Effect of laser shock peening on the surface integrity and fretting fatigue properties of high-strength titanium alloy TC21

High-strength titanium alloy TC21 is often used to make aircraft load-bearing components in the aviation field. However, due to vibration, load-bearing components often suffer from fretting fatigue (FF), which greatly reduces their actual service life. Nowadays, laser shock peening (LSP) is being recognized as an effective strengthening process for many materials. Therefore, in this study, the effectiveness of LSP on the strengthening of high-strength titanium alloy TC21 is studied, in terms of surface integrity and FF properties. TC21 fretting specimens and tests are designed. Before fretting tests, the specimens are processed by LSP with varying laser pulse energies, number of shocks and overlap rate, and their surface integrity and FF properties are analyzed. It is found that the greater the laser pulse energy and number of shocks, the higher the surface hardness and compressive residual stress, the more the grain refinement, the greater the improvement in FF life. Under 32J-50%-T1, the FF life is improved by 191.3% compared with BM. But the overlap rate has little effect on surface integrity and FF life. Meanwhile, there forms amorphous structures, which tended to be transformed into nanograins during fretting process. This transformation is helpful for prolonging FF life due to its action of energy absorption. This study reveals the strengthening mechanism of LSP on TC21 and its effect on the FF properties of TC21 specimens.