Mechanism of fatigue performance enhancement in a laser sintered superhard nanoparticles reinforced nanocomposite followed by laser shock peening

This study investigates the fundamental mechanism of fatigue performance enhancement during a novel hybrid manufacturing process, which combines laser sintering of superhard nanoparticles integrated nanocomposites and laser shock peening (LSP). Through laser sintering, TiN nanoparticles are integrated uniformly into iron matrix to form a nanocomposite layer near the surface of AISI4140 steel. LSP is then performed on the nanocomposite layer to generate interaction between nanoparticles and shock waves. The fundamental mechanism of fatigue performance enhancement is discussed in this paper. During laser shock interaction with the nanocomposites, the existence of nanoparticles increases the dislocation density and also helps to pin the dislocation movement. As a result, both dislocation density and residual stress are stabilized, which is beneficial for fatigue performance.