Influence of High-Frequency Mechanical Peening on the Fatigue Life of Stainless Steel Joints in Corrosive Environment

Abstract

In the recent times, several post-processing techniques are proposed to improve the fatigue strength of the welded joints. Methods like high-frequency mechanical peening (HFMP) effectively enhances the fatigue corrosion characteristics of the welded metals and alloys in the corrosive environments also. The improvement of fatigue strength by HFMP is based on the relieving residual stresses and severe plastic deformation. This paper investigates the corrosion damage life of the AISI 316 welded stainless steel joints operated in the sea climate. The HFMP strengthened and unstrengthened samples are placed in the salt spray chamber for 1400 h. From the metallographic studies, it is observed that the HFMP strengthening has a significant effect on the fatigue strength at 2\u2009×\u2009106 cycles and increases fatigue strength by 45% before treating with salt spray solution. After soaking in salt spray chamber, HFMP does not exhibit a significant improvement in fatigue cyclic life and corrosion resistance.