Automated Shot Peening

Atlantic Hardchrome is a machining/plating facility in Halifax Nova Scotia that offers industrial qualitychrome and nickel plating services. They have the ability to extend the life of worn out machine componentusing a unique in-house process. This process can save their clients tens of thousands of dollars. For exampleAtlantic Hardchrome can repair a part that might cost $40,000 to replace for a few thousand dollars. Theprocess consists of four main steps. First, worn areas of the part are pre-machined to remove scoring and anyother existing damage. Second, the newly machined surface is shot peened to improve the fatigue strength andwear resistance of the part through work hardening of the part surface and the deliberate introduction ofcompressive residual stresses. Third, the areas of interest are then plated with a layer of chrome. Forth, thelayer of chrome is ground to a specified tolerance.The Achilles heel of this process is the shot peening process. All of the other steps are automated orsemi-automated and can be tightly controlled. However, the shot peening process is a manual operation inwhich the operator holds a nozzle that fires a stream of high velocity steel shot at the part while simultaneouslymoving the part. As a result, the quality control of this operation is not as traceable and reliable as desired,preventing Atlantic Hardchrome from providing services to certain aerospace and military clientele. Theproposed project will focus on the development of a method of automating manual shot peening machines andthe development of optimal process parameters for the resulting device. The outcomes of this project willinclude the development of a service that is currently only available at a few large manufacturing companies inthe United States and a technology that will allow small to medium sized machine shops in Canada to retrofittheir shot peening machines for a relatively modest investment.