Water Jet Strengthening of Titanium Alloy Based on Coverage Model: Surface Integrity Evolution and Fatigue Life-Increasing Mechanism

YANG Ye; ZHU Xianhao; YAO Shulei; CHI Yuxin; DING Mingke; ZHOU Xinyun; WANG Ning

doi:10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2026.19.018

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Surface Technology ›› 2026, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (19) : 220-235. DOI: 10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2026.19.018

Surface and Interface Strengthening Technology

Water Jet Strengthening of Titanium Alloy Based on Coverage Model: Surface Integrity Evolution and Fatigue Life-Increasing Mechanism

YANG Ye¹, ZHU Xianhao¹, YAO Shulei¹, CHI Yuxin¹, DING Mingke¹, ZHOU Xinyun¹, WANG Ning^1,2,*

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Abstract

To improve the controllability of the deflected abrasive water jet peening (DAWJP) process for special TC4 titanium alloy used in key aero-engine components, the theoretical calculation and correction of surface coverage were investigated, and the influence of coverage on surface integrity and fatigue performance was clarified. Based on the KIRK coverage model, a theoretical prediction model for abrasive particle impact coverage was established. The actual surface coverage was measured by image processing, in which the impact craters on the strengthened surface were identified and the covered area was calculated from the pixel ratio in the selected analysis region. Considering that only part of the abrasive particles transported by the jet could form identifiable impact craters on the target surface, and that the particle distribution in the sampling region was not completely uniform, an effective impact particle proportion and a sampling-area distribution correction factor were introduced to modify the original coverage model. A series of DAWJP experiments were then carried out on special TC4 titanium alloy specimens under different process parameters, and the surface roughness, microhardness, residual stress distribution and high-cycle fatigue performance under different coverage levels were systematically characterized. The results showed that the effective impact particle proportion η and the sampling-area distribution factor θ were 0.08 and 0.74, respectively. After correction, the prediction error of the coverage model was controlled within 20%, indicating that the modified model could better describe the actual particle impact behavior in the DAWJP process. The measured average depth and diameter of single-particle craters were 13.9 μm and 35.7 μm, respectively, and the relative errors between the measured and calculated values were 22.70% and 8.89%, respectively. As the coverage increased from 190% to 930%, the surface morphology gradually changed from discrete impact craters to a more overlapped and homogenized impact surface. The surface roughness Ra decreased from 0.578 μm to 0.361 μm, while the surface microhardness increased, with a maximum increase of 16.7%. Meanwhile, the surface compressive residual stress increased from -387.89 MPa to -520.08 MPa, and the depth of the residual stress layer increased from 79.6 μmto 126.4 μm. These results indicated that increasing coverage could promote surface smoothing, surface hardening and the deepening of the compressive residual stress layer. The fatigue test results further showed that, within the coverage range of 850%-930%, the fatigue life was significantly improved, with the maximum fatigue life reaching 3.28 times that of the untreated specimen. Fracture morphology analysis indicated that the fatigue crack source of the untreated specimen was mainly located on the long-side surface, whereas after high-coverage DAWJP treatment, the crack source shifted toward the edge or subsurface region. This phenomenon suggested that the strengthened surface layer could suppress surface crack initiation and delay early crack propagation. It is concluded that, in the DAWJP process, coverage is therefore a key control parameter for evaluating strengthening quality and fatigue performance improvement. However, the fatigue enhancement effect is not determined by coverage alone, but is closely related to the combined effects of particle impact energy, surface roughness, hardening behavior and residual stress layer depth. Under appropriate process parameters, a high-coverage strengthened layer can significantly improve the surface integrity and fatigue service performance of special TC4 titanium alloy, providing a theoretical basis and technical support for the engineering application of DAWJP in complex aerospace components.

Key words

abrasive water jet / surface coverage / special TC4 titanium alloy / surface integrity / fatigue life

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YANG Ye, ZHU Xianhao, YAO Shulei, CHI Yuxin, DING Mingke, ZHOU Xinyun, WANG Ning. Water Jet Strengthening of Titanium Alloy Based on Coverage Model: Surface Integrity Evolution and Fatigue Life-Increasing Mechanism[J]. Surface Technology. 2026, 55(19): 220-235

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