On the Evolution of Surface Roughness in Shot Peening Treatment: Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Both macroscopic and microstructure surface characteristics strongly affect the mechanical structures’ behavior. Thus it is essential to carefully study the surface state of treated components for assessing their functionality. A 3D finite element model of shot peening process is used in this work to investigate surface topography alterations as a function of peening parameters and processing time. Discrete data obtained from the numerical simulations are subsequently elaborated to calculate the conventional roughness parameters. The results obtained from the numerical simulations, correspond quiet well with the roughness values measured experimentally on shot peened specimens. It is indicated that the developed numerical model provides an efficient estimation of surface characteristics of shot peened specimens, in terms of surface roughness parameters.