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approximately equal to the wire diameter. Cut wire shot can be bought as-is (with sharp edges), conditioned
(rounded edges), and special conditioned (nearly spherical). It is also possible to get cut wire shot made from
different metals such as zinc or copper. Cut wire shot is designated by the diameter of the wire used in
thousandths of an inch. Thus CW-47 represents shot made from a wire that was 0.047 in diameter.
What Is Intensity?
Shot peening intensity is defined by the amount of energy (in the form of compressive residual stress) that is
deposited to an industry standard test sample known as the Almen strip. When one side of an Almen strip is
peened, the surface stresses cause the strip to arc. To determine the intensity, the arc height is plotted against the
time spent peening. The intensity is defined as the point on the curve where doubling the peening time results in
a 10% increase in height. The value is typically reported as the arc height (as measured by a calibrated Almen
gauge) in thousandths of an inch followed by the type of Almen strip used. For example, if the gauge measures
a deflection of 0.008 on an A type strip, this is usually reported as an intensity of 8A.
How Is Intensity Measured?
To determine shot intensity, four or more Almen strips of the appropriate type are peened with successively
longer times. The last strip should have an arc height that is less than 10% greater than a strip peened for half
that amount of time. Once enough strips have been peened, a best fit curve should be drawn for the data points.
This can be easily done with spreadsheets. The intensity is defined as the point on the curve where doubling the
peening time results in a 10% increase in the arc height. This point can be easily determined using formulas in
the spreadsheet with the best fit curve. The time it takes to reach this intensity is called the saturation time.
Typically, once the intensity is determined, the test is run again at the saturation time and at double the
saturation time to confirm the measurement.
The placement of the Almen strip is also important for intensity measurements. The strips should be mounted in
the same position and orientation relative to the shot nozzle as the piece to be peened. This insures that the
intensity that the part experiences will be measured with the Almen strip.
Types of Almen Strips & Their Use
There are three main types of Almen strips along with a couple of specialty strips for specific applications. The
main Almen strips are A strips, which are used for a majority of peening applications, N strips, which are
typically used for low intensity applications, and C strips for high intensity applications. There also exist ministrips for small and hard to reach applications and aluminum strips for paint stripping on airplanes.
Almen Intensity vs. Velocity
It has been long known that the Almen intensity is linearly related to the perpendicular component of the
velocity of the shot that impacts it. The exact formula depends on the shot size and type as well as the type of
Almen strip used, but it is otherwise independent of any other variables. Because of this, if one accurately
knows the shot velocity and angle at the part, the Almen intensity can be predicted to roughly 0.0005.
A detailed analysis of how the Almen intensity varies with shot velocity can be found in the report.
Intensity Parameter Space for Comco Blasters
Because of our ability to accurately measure the velocity of different types of shot when using Comco blasters,
it is possible to create charts that allow one to easily determine what pressure and distance a nozzle needs to be
placed from a part to peen at a desired Almen intensity. These charts can be found for AccuFlos for glass bead
and small steel shot in the following reports:
What Is Coverage?
Coverage is the amount of surface that is dimpled by shot peening. 100% coverage is achieved when the entire
surface has at least 1 dent covering it. In practice, due to the random nature of where the shot impacts on a
surface, full (100%) coverage is defined as when > 98% of the surface is dimpled. Determining the time and
amount of shot necessary for full coverage can only be done empirically, since it depends on the shot intensity,
the material properties of the shot, the flow rate of the shot, and the material properties of the part to be peened.
Because the placement of individual shot on the part is random, there is a significant amount of overlap of the
dents. This means that for coverages less than 100%, the amount of surface covered increases along an inverse
exponential relation until full coverage is reached. Thus if peening for 1 minute produces 64% coverage,
peening for two minutes will result in only 87% coverage. The total peening time for full (> 98%) coverage will
have to be 4 minutes. However, once the time for 100% coverage is determined, greater coverages are achieved
by increasing the peening time linearly with respect to the desired coverage. Thus, 150% coverage would be
achieved at 6 minutes and 200% coverage at 8 minutes for the above example.
As a general rule, 100% coverage can be achieved faster with smaller shot. This is because even though the
diameter of the indentations is smaller, the number of indentations increases at a faster rate. Rough estimates of
the amount of shot necessary to reach 100% coverage are given in the following reports:
How to Measure Coverage
There are several methods by which to check whether 100% coverage has been achieved. The first, and most
common, is to visually inspect the part under a microscope using an objective in the 10x 30x range with the
larger magnification used for smaller shot sizes. Here the user is simply looking to see if the entire area of the
part under magnification has been dimpled. If so, 100% coverage is assumed. If the entire viewable surface is
not dimpled, one can attempt to calculate the percentage surface peened to develop a coverage curve, or the part
can just be peened for a longer time and the inspection repeated.
The second method is to use an imaging device which takes a picture of the surface and automatically calculates
the percentage covered. These devices have the benefits of being fast, eliminating human error, and they can
often be used in spots that would be hard for a traditional microscope to reach, such as the bottom of a hole.
A third method is to coat the part with a thin coating of tracer fluid (often one that fluoresces under a black
light) that is removed when the object is peened. By measuring the amount of fluid left after a peening
application, one can easily determine easily if 100% coverage has been achieved. If using this method, one must
ensure that wherever there is a dent, the tracer fluid has been removed and wherever the fluid is removed, a dent
is present; otherwise this method may give erroneous results.
proxies) under a cyclic stress and measuring the amount of cycles until the part breaks. This is typically
compared against the number of cycles that an unpeened sample can withstand. When a sufficient number of
peening parameters have been tested, an informed decision can be made as to the shot type, shot size, intensity
and coverage that is appropriate for the part.
V. Miscellaneous Shot Peening Info
Shot Peening and Shape Modification
Shot peening can be a useful tool in modifying or correcting the shape of small or thin parts that have been
deformed due to stress resulting from welding or tooling. By peening the weld or the tooled area, these stresses
can be relieved and the part will relax back to its intended shape. Care should be taken to avoid over-peening as
the introduction of too much compressive residual stress can warp the part in the opposite direction of the initial
deformation.
Shot Peening and Surface Roughness
Because shot peening causes plastic deformation in the surface of the part, it creates a roughness profile that is
linearly proportional to the velocity/intensity of the shot. As a general rule, larger shot sizes result in greater
roughness at lower velocities as shown in figure 1 below.
Shot Peening Surface Roughness on 304 Stainless Steel
160
4
s230
140
3.5
s70
120
100
2.5
80
60
1.5
100 m GB
50 m GB
40
35 m GB
20
Ra (microns)
Ra (uin.)
s110
1
0.5
0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
The Correlation of Almen Intensity and Surface Roughness on 304 Stainless Steel
160
4
s230 A
140
s110 N
s110 A
3.5
s70 N
100
2.5
80
60
1.5
50 m GB N
40
Ra (microns)
Ra (uin.)
s70 A
120
20
0.5
100 m GB N
0
0
12
15
18
21
24
27
30
Almen Intensity
Figure 2. Surface roughness vs. Almen intensity. The type of Almen strip is noted next to the shot type.
Dangers of Over-peening
Although shot peening is used to strengthen parts and increase their fatigue resistance, over peening can have
the opposite effect. Over-peening can happen either by using too high of an intensity, peening for too long of a
time, or a combination of both. This can cause extremely localized high stress conditions (stress risers) and even
create fatigue cracks that will dramatically reduce the fatigue life of a part, even to below the unpeened
condition. Furthermore, excessive peening can lead to the erosion of the peened surface, permanently damaging
the part.
Precision Peening
Precision peening is the ability to peen only on the surface areas of a part that have been specified for shot
peening while ensuring that 100% of the shot impacts the targeted part. It greatly reduces or even eliminates the
need for masking areas that are not to be peened and reduces the amount of shot needed for a specification,
saving in initial cost and in waste generated. Furthermore, precision peening allows parts with complex
geometries and hard-to-reach areas, such as inside long bores, to be peened with uniform intensities and
coverages.