Effect of Nozzle Diameter on Particle Flying Velocity in Fine Particle Peening Processes

Abstract

Fine Particle peening is a method to obtain surface modification effects, such as fatigue strength improvement, by bombarding the work material with particles at high velocity. However, there are many factors that affect the surface modification effect, making it difficult to select the optimum conditions. The particle velocity and particle flight behavior have not been clarified due to the large number of flying particles in addition to the extremely high particle velocity. Therefore, in this study, in addition to air flow analysis inside and outside the nozzle, particle velocity analysis using the particle method was conducted. ANSYS was used for the airflow analysis, and Particle Works was used for the particle method. The nozzle diameter and nozzle - work distance were varied. The nozzle diameter was varied from 3 to 10 mm. The nozzle - work distance was 50, 100, and 150 mm. The pressure at the nozzle entrance was set to 0.2 MPa, and air flow analysis was performed under incompressible fluid conditions. The particle method used iron-based particles with a particle diameter of 100 μm as a model for analysis. The results of the airflow analysis showed that the potential core area increases as the nozzle diameter increases. This was attributed to the shear layer caused by the wall resistance inside the nozzle. Next, particle velocity analysis showed that particle velocity tended to increase with increasing nozzle diameter. In addition, it was found that the particle velocity increased with increasing nozzle - work distance. Next, the particle flight behavior was analyzed, and it was found that the particles accelerated most at the parallel part of the nozzle and continued to accelerate after the nozzle exit.