Comparison of effects of brush and needle peening on fatigue properties of aluminum alloy 5083 fillet welds - awra document p3-8-84, awra contract no. 101

Maximum improvement with needle peening is obtained if this operation is carried out after the application of a preload. Such a treatment has now been shown to be effective in field trials with welded aluminum alloy rail wagons. On the other hand, brush peening would seem less suitable for treating relatively inaccessible regions of welds which contain sharp corners or re-entrant angles in the toe regions. The aim of the work was to compare results of the two methods of peening using standard transverse fillet welded specimens. The earlier fatigue data for needle peened specimens have been used as the basis for such a comparison. It is shown that brush peening can increase the fatigue lives of fillet welds under some test conditions. However, the technique is generally less effective than needle peening.