Improving fatigue strength of metals using abrasive waterjet peening

Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) peening has been proposed as a viable method of surface treatment for metal orthopedic devices. In this study the influence of AWJ peening on the compressive residual stress, surface texture and fatigue strength of a stainless steel (AISI 304) and titanium (Ti6Al4V) alloy were studied. A design of experiments ( DOE) and an analysis of variance ( ANOVA) were used to identify the primary parameters contributing to the surface texture and magnitude of surface residual stress. The influence of AWJ peening on the fatigue strength of the metals was evaluated under fully reversed cyclic loading. It was found that AWJ peening results in compressive residual stress and is primarily influenced by the abrasive size and treatment pressure. The residual stress of the AISI 304 ranged from 165 to over 460 MPa. Using the optimum treatment parameters for maximizing the residual stress, the endurance strength of Ti6Al4V was increased by 25% to 845 MPa. According to results of this study AWJ peening is a viable method of surface treatment for applications that require an increase in surface roughness and maintenance or increase in fatigue strength, qualities that most often are not available from a single process.