Low Cost Corrosion Damage Mitigation and Improved Fatigue Performance of Low Plasticity Burnished 7075-T6

Low plasticity burnishing (LPB) has been investigated as a surface enhancement process and corrosion mitigation method for aging aircraft structural applications. Compressive residual stresses reaching the alloy yield strength and extending to a depth of 1.25 mm (0.050 in.) deeper than typical corrosion damage is achievable. Excellent surface finish can be achieved with no detectable metallurgical damage to surface and subsurface material. Salt fog exposures of 100 and 500 h reduced the fatigue strength at 2×106 cycles by 50%. The LPB of the corroded surface, without removal of the corrosion product or pitted material, restored the 2×106 fatigue strength to greater than that of the original machined surface. The fatigue strength of the corroded material in the finite life regime (104 to 106 cycles) after LPB was 140 MPa (20 ksi) higher than the original uncorroded alloy and increased the life by an order of magnitude. Ease of adaptation to computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools allows LPB processing at costs and speeds comparable to machining operations. Low plasticity burnishing offers a promising new technology for mitigation of corrosion damage and improved fatigue life of aircraft structural components with significant cost and time savings over current practices.