The coatings industry is very familiar with shot/grit blasting as a mechanical means of surface preparation. Over the years, operators have worked with manual and automatic blast equipment with its associated dust collection arrangements. The industry is highly competitive, and control on operating costs is critical. Therefore, coaters are always on the lookout for ways to tune their process by lowering costs and increasing productivity.

An allied process called shot peening can elevate blast cleaning to a more productive level. Shot peening is a technique to strengthen production parts that relies on process control. Proper media selection, effective equipment operation and maintenance within identified parameters can reduce costs and increase productivity.

Though not as widely known as blast cleaning, understanding and implementation of peening techniques can help reach the above optimization goals. Shot peening is not new to the surface preparation industry. Its origin can be traced from blast cleaning heat treat scale from valve springs at a large automobile manufacturing plant. As a result of cleaning, these springs were also peened to some extent, and they exhibited longer service life. This favorable outcome though not anticipated was welcomed, and this triggered the evolution of peening. All aerospace components that undergo cyclic loading (such as landing gear, engine components such as disks, blades, airfoils structures) are shot peened. This process has gained enough momentum to attract new industry sectors like medical to adopt it to increase useful life of implants.

The pace of process development and standardization has been relatively slower than more sophisticated, computer controlled production machinery. However, with our industry embracing electronic hardware such as PLCs and other controls in commonly used equipment, the future is exciting and encouraging.

This discussion will also include green manufacturing and how it’s more than just a social cause for this mechanical surface preparation technique.

Subject
Abrasive blasting, Steel surfaces, Manufacturing, Nozzles, Industries, Abrasives, Machinery, Surface preparation, Surface profile, Shot peening, Steel grit, Paints, Cleaning
© 2012 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. This work is protected by both domestic and international copyright laws. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2012
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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