Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Water Jet Peening on 6061 Aluminum Alloy

Water jet peening (WJP) is a mechanical surface strengthening process, which can improve the residual stress (RS) of the peened surface and then improve the fatigue life of components. In this paper, erosion experiments are conducted to investigate the influence of peening parameters on erosion. On this basis, RSs induced by WJP are studied in relation to the peening parameters. In addition, the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) technique is used to model and simulate the dynamic impact process of WJP on Al6061-T6. The influence of peening parameters such as jet pressure p, jet traverse velocity vf, and the number of water jet pass n on the modification of residual stress field (RSF) is examined by simulation and experiment. The influence of incidence angle α and water jet diameter d on RSF is also investigated by simulation. Results show that compressive RS σcrs is a result of the action of water-hammer pressure alone. Furthermore, σcrs increases with an increase in p, n and α. The optimal peening parameters for Al6061-T6 are found to be p = 60 MPa, vf = 2000 mm/min, n = 4, α = 90 deg and d = 2.0 mm. Finally, the depth of compressive RS layer D0 increases greatly with an increase in water jet diameter d and can reach 984 μm.