Fretting Fatigue Behavior of Cavitation Shotless Peened Ti–6Al–4V

Fretting fatigue behavior of cavitation shotless peened (CSP) titanium alloy, Ti–6Al–4V was investigated. Constant amplitude fretting fatigue tests were conducted at several maximum stress levels, σ_max, ranging from 400 to 555 MPa with a stress ratio of 0.1. Test results showed that the fretting fatigue life was enhanced by CSP treatment as compared to the unpeened specimen, but the enhancement was not as large as that from the shot-peening treatment. Residual stress measurements by X-ray diffraction method before and after fretting test showed that residual compressive stress was relaxed during fretting fatigue. Before fretting, CSP specimen had higher compressive residual stress on the surface than the shot-peened specimen. However, greater residual stress relaxation occurred in CSP specimen such that the relaxed compressive residual stress profile near the contact surface of CSP specimen was lower than that of shot-peened specimen. This lower compressive residual stress from fretting fatigue was the reason for shorter fretting fatigue life of CSP specimen as compared to shot-peened specimen at the applied stress level.