Abstract
The cavitation peening (CP) and cavitation abrasive jet polishing (CAJP) processes employ a cavitating jet to harden the surface or remove surface irregularities. However, a zero incidence angle between the jet and the surface limits the efficiency of these two processes. This limitation can be improved by introducing a secondary jet. The secondary jet interacts with the main jet, carrying bubbles to the proximity of the workpiece surface and aligning the disordered bubble collapse events. Through characterizing the treated surface of AL6061 in terms of the hardness distribution and surface roughness, it was found out that the secondary jet can increase the hardening intensity by 10%, whereas the material removal rate within a localized region increased by 66%. In addition, employing multiple secondary jets can create a patched pattern of hardness distribution. Another finding is that the hardening effect of the cavitation increases with the processing time at first and is then saturated.
Highlights
Most failures in engineering materials, such as fatigue fracture, fretting, wear, and corrosion, originate from the exterior layer and are sensitive to the structure and properties of the material surface
Many components in the aerospace and automotive sectors undergo shot peening, in which the surface is bombarded with hard balls to induce compressive residual stresses [1,2,3,4]
Cavitation peening has been found to be superior in enhancing surface hardness and fatigue strength, compared to other traditional methods
Summary
Most failures in engineering materials, such as fatigue fracture, fretting, wear, and corrosion, originate from the exterior layer and are sensitive to the structure and properties of the material surface. Many components in the aerospace and automotive sectors undergo shot peening, in which the surface is bombarded with hard balls to induce compressive residual stresses [1,2,3,4]. This method results in excessive surface roughness, and the balls might fail to reach intricate areas of the part. The throat geometry of the nozzle creates a pressure drop and leads to vaporization of the liquid, which is referred to as cavitation These vaporous bubbles exiting the nozzle bear tremendous energy, which is released in the form of the pressure waves and micro-jets when they collapse under a high recovery pressure.
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