Optimization of Shot Peening Process

Atlantic Hardchrome is a manufacturing, machining and plating facility in Dartmouth Nova Scotia It offersIndustrial and Aerospace chrome, nickel-plating, tin, and silver plating services. A large part of the platingbusiness is aerospace or military. Atlantic Hardchrome's machining and plating processes extend the life ofworn out components using a unique in-house process. These refurbished parts usually out last the OEM partsprovided by the customer. The extended life can be from 2X and as high as 10X as the original parts. Theircustomers save in several ways, including the refurbished price is usually half the original price, they save onlong term maintenance and also avoid many unexpected process shut downs in the industrial setting.One of the key processes in Atlantic Hardchrome's refurbishing operation is shot peening. The increasingdemand driven by the aerospace industry for improved reliability and quality of all shop processes hasprompted Atlantic Hardchrome to embark on enhancing their shot peening process. Atlantic Hardchrome haveapproached researchers from Dalhousie University to optimize their shot peening process in an attempt toachieve the full benefit of the peening process. This project will generate knowledge of benefit to AtlanticHardchrome and will allow them to market a higher quality process and increase their customer base. Thisresearch will serve to enhance Dalhousie's collaboration with industry and will set the stage for furthercollaborative work in the future. The benefit to Canada is that this project will help to maintain and grow hightech jobs in Atlantic Canada and enhance Canada's competitiveness in the global MRO market and will lead tohigher Canadian exports.