Shot Peening

Shot peening is a cold working process originally implemented to increase fatigue strength. A stream of shot is used to bombard a metal’s surface, inducing compressive stresses and relieving tensile stresses within the material.85 The depth of the shot peening effect is typically about 0.13 to 0.25 mm below the surface. The altering of residual stresses on the metal’s surface results in a higher fatigue resistant material, and also a higher resistance to corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion cracking.