Description / Abstract:
Purpose
This specification covers the equipment and process requirements
for forming or straightening metal parts using Ultrasonically
Activated Needle Peening
Process Description
Ultrasonic kinetic energy is transferred from a vibrating
metallic element to the peen forming media (needles) contained in
an end piece. See Figures 4 and 3 respectively. The equipment can
be used manually by an operator or automatically in connection with
a CNC machine, e.g., an industrial robot. The equipment set (Figure
1) is composed of a central control unit and a machine held tool,
the peening head (Figure 2).
Applications
Ultrasonically activated needle peening is typically used to
form and straighten metallic parts by inducing compressive residual
stresses on selected surfaces in order to produce the desired part
curvature. The process is successfully applied to part geometries
for which the depth of introduced residual stresses is significant
in comparison to part thickness at that location.