Shot Peening

Shot peening is a specialized mechanical surface treatment that strengthens your part and extends fatigue life by bombarding the surface with small metallic shot to induce compressive residual stress in the surface layer. The compressive stresses prevent surface-initiated cracks from initiating and propagating, dramatically improving fatigue resistance in cyclically loaded components like springs, crankshafts, and shafts.

Shot peening also improves resistance to stress-corrosion cracking, a catastrophic failure mode in high-strength materials exposed to corrosive environments. The process is carefully controlled by specifying the shot type, size, hardness, exposure time, and intensity (measured by arc height) to achieve the desired residual stress profile without surface damage.

For critical aerospace, automotive, and industrial applications where component failure could be catastrophic, shot peening is often specified as a mandatory step in the metal finishing process to guarantee reliability and service life.