Depth-resolved mechanical behaviour of shot peened 7050-T7451 aluminium surfaces using in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction

We have assessed the elasto-plastic (sub)surface behaviour of 7050-T7451 aluminium alloy treated by shot peening using S110 steel shots of 300 μm in diameter and two different intensities, namely Almen intensity (A) of 3.4 (low-intensity) and 10.9 (high-intensity). Shot peening (SP) is a cold work process applied in the aerospace industry to enhance the fatigue tolerance of structural components after machining. The local mechanical response within the SP-induced layer was depth profiled at room temperature by performing an X-ray micro-diffraction experiment in transmission geometry at a synchrotron source, during tensile loading of the specimen to rupture. The presence of a SP-induced layer in the specimen is evidenced by compressive longitudinal lattice strains (~-540 με for low-intensity and ~-4200 με for high-intensity at 0.1 mm from the surface for the 311 reflection), parallel with respect to the applied load, i.e. perpendicular to the direction of impact of the steel shots, and also by higher values of the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the diffraction peaks than those measured in the bulk material, due to the local plastic deformation induced by shot peening. High-intensity shot peening produced a higher surface roughness (Sa ~13 μm), and also two times thicker deformed surface layer (~ 0.4 mm), than low-intensity shot peening (Sa ~2 μm and ~0.2 mm thick deformed layer). For both shot peening conditions, the local yield stress of the surface layer and bulk material were similar, however the severely affected layers exhibit a non-linear elastic behaviour when applying loads lower than the yield stress of the material. Beyond yielding, the presence of SP-induced layers is mainly evidenced by the relatively higher value of the FWHM near-surface compared to the bulk (~20% higher for low-intensity and ~40% for high-intensity), due to the initial plastic deformation accumulated during shot peening and additional plasticity during loading of the specimen.