Hammer Peening s00170-021-07993-5

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (2022) 118:683–701
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-07993-5
CRITICAL REVIEW
Hammer peening technology—the past, present, and future

Wai Luen Chan 1 & Henry Kuo Feng Cheng 1
Received: 3 February 2021 / Accepted: 31 August 2021 / Published online: 9 September 2021
# The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
A number of surface modification processes have been developed over the past decades. Depending on the application in
industry, different processes are selected to meet the needs. Shot peening is one of the widely adopted surface modification
processes in various industries dedicated for improving the material properties. On the other hand, hammer peening is an
emerging and promising surface modification process that can provide wide range of benefits, encompassing fatigue life
enhancement, surface finish improvement and texturing, microstructural refinement, corrosion, and wear resistance. This tech-
nology has been extensively studied on its application as a post-welding treatment on metal alloys. However, there is limited
information available for other applications such as additive manufacturing. This paper discusses how hammer peening has
evolved into its current state today and the role it played in various industries. The variants of hammer peening technology and the
standardized key process parameters are elucidated. In view of the rigorous research and development, the current state-of-the-art
on different applications area also represented. Despite the proven capability by many studies, the gaps to the industrialization of
this technology still exist which are identified in the final section of the paper.
Keywords Hammer peening . Surface modification . Residual stress . Fatigue . Manufacturing
1 Introduction reduce stress concentration points where occur at rough sur-

face. In usual practice, these effects come in a package, for
Surface modification process plays an essential role in various example, low surface roughness with high compressive resid-
industries, ranging from aerospace and mechanical ual stress [2]. Nonetheless, there are adverse side effects that
manufacturing, and oil and gas industry, to fast moving con- one should be cautious of, for instance, geometry distortion
sumer goods (FMCG). In manufacturing industry, surface may occur if it goes to extreme process parameters. Thus, the
modification process is developed to enhance fatigue life, relations between each process parameters and effect outputs
stress and corrosion resistance, and material strengthening of should be taken into consideration when conducting surface
metals and alloys [1]. The plastic deformation generated from treatment.
the surface modification process alters the surface and sub- There are various surface modification processes in the
surface characteristics of the treated area, depending on the contemporary industry, such as shot peening, laser shock
parameters of the process. The fatigue life of material is im- peening, ultrasonic peening, and deep cold rolling. Shot
proved by imparting strain hardening material layer and ben- peening (SP) is a commonly adopted surface modification
eficial compressive residual stress, thus inhibits the crack ini- process that can generate high compressive residual stress at
tiation and propagation. Apart from that, surface modification surface and near-surface region [3] to improve the fatigue
process also primarily used for surface smoothening and tex- crack resistance of a material [4]. It is widely used in the
turing, which is important for components such as aircraft and industry due to cost effective, reliable, easy to operate, and
automotive to reduce aerodynamic skin friction, and also to able to treat parts with complex geometries such as airfoil
blades [5]. Laser shock peening (LSP) is another surface en-
gineering process that is able to generate compressive residual
* Wai Luen Chan stress that can improve the stress corrosion cracking resistance
[email protected] of material [6]. The relationship between different process
parameters of laser shock peening, such as laser pulse energy,
1
Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, 3 Cleantech overlap, peening direction, as well as laser sequence on the
Loop #01-01, Singapore 637143, Singapore residual stress profiles were studied in detail by Kallien et al.
684 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2022) 118:683–701
This process has become increasingly popular as alternative to The key element in shot peening is the media or shots
shot peening due to non-contact mechanism and good control- which contact the surface discontinuously. This process was
lability and can achieve deeper residual stress profile [7]. Deep originated in 1870 whereby the sand, as shots, was accelerated
cold rolling (DCR) is a mechanical process that can impart by pressurized air, steam, or centrifugal forces, and slowly
comparable compressive residual stress than that of shot evolved into the process we saw today that is capable to im-
peening, but can achieve smoother surface finish simulta- prove material stress corrosion cracking and fatigue [10].
neously. The comparison of fatigue enhancement and tribo- For tool-based process, the key element is the tool that is
logical properties, between shot peening and deep rolling pro- guided and produce continuous or periodic impact on the ma-
cesses on metallic alloys, were investigated by Reggiani et al. terial. In deep cold rolling, a tool with hydrostatic ball is
[8] and Croccolo et al. [9], respectively. However, it has lim- pressed and rolled against the surface to induce plastic defor-
itations of long process time and unable to treat parts with mation and produce deep compressive residual stress. Earliest
narrow complex features. deployment of deep cold rolling in industry dated back to the
Hammer peening (HP), or some referred as machine 1920s of the last century to strengthen axles of the Ford T and
hammer peening (MHP), is an emerging surface modifi- even trains in the USA [11]. Pioneering work done by Foppl
cation process that can provide wide range of material- and Thum also proved the effect of deep rolling or burnishing
property improvement benefits, primarily fatigue life en- on the fatigue strength improvement [10]. Following by then,
hancement, material hardening, surface smoothening, and various studies have been conducted to investigate the process
tribological properties improvement. It can generate uni- and material behavior. Today, this process is widely used in
form impacts across treated area by oscillating the ham- automotive and aerospace industry, for example, the crank-
mering tool at high frequency that can be generated via shafts and turbine blades [11]. The historical development
various methods, such as pneumatic, ultrasonic, piezo- timeline of hammer peening process is summarized and illus-
electric, and electromagnetic. Hammer peening has been trated in Figure 1.
applied mostly as a post-weld surface treatment to inhibit In 1970s, hammer peening application with ultrasonic, or
the fatigue crack propagation due to its ability to cause known as ultrasonic impact treatment was first developed in
severe plastic deformation on the material and deep pen- Russia for shipbuilding. As the technology began to receive
etration depth. With its capability, it becomes slowly rec- more confidence, it was brought over to the USA for active
ognized by various industries including additive commercial research development under the trademark
manufacturing; more research and development have been Esonix UIT in 1998 [12]. Ultrasonic hammer peening also
conducted over the past decades to understand the process referred as direct sonotrode-driven hammer peening, which
in detail and potential application. This paper provides an consists of an ultrasonic transducer that produces oscillating
overview of the hammer peening technology, from the movement and directly transfers to the component by a
creation of the process and how it evolved over the years sonotrode consisting of a steel pin, as shown in Figure 2
to the current stage of development. The different variants [10]. This process is suitable in the application of thin com-
of hammer peening process and standardized process var- ponents such as thin metal foil and small pipe, as the applied
iables also covered in this paper. Finally, the potential static pressure onto the surface can be reduced and provide
capability development and direction in moving to the desired plastic deformation to improve fatigue strength. With
industrialization are also discussed. ultrasonic technology becoming more prominent, more ad-
vanced ultrasonic hammer peening systems have been devel-
oped and renamed as Ultrasonic Nanocrystalline Surface
2 Historical development Modification (UNSM) due to its ability to generate nano-
crystalline microstructure on the material, and patented by
The emergence of mechanical surface modification drew back Pyoun in 2000 [13]. Additional compressed air is applied
to the hammering of tools and helmets during their shaping by onto the hammer head and allows greater impacts on the
craftsmen and swordsmiths during the ancient time, then to material, thus coolant or oil is usually sprayed onto the
the weaponry and manufacturing of axles for railroads [10]. workpiece surface to avoid temperature rise. With the fre-
As the technology advanced, different surface modification quency range of ultrasound up to 80 kHz, this technology
technologies have been developed, such as shot peening, bur- has been actively developed and utilized by many indus-
nishing, ultrasonic peening, and machine hammer peening. tries to generate plastic deformation on metal surface and
Surface modification technology can be classified into cate- improve the fatigue performance, especially welded joints
gories based on their working mechanism, for instance, which contain high welding residual stress as studied by
media-based process that includes shot peening; tool-based Wu et al. [14]. It is widely adopted due to its effectiveness,
process that includes burnishing, deep cold rolling, and ham- easy operation, and low cost. Studies by Yin et al.
mer peening. established a conclusion that the fatigue strength of the
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2022) 118:683–701 685
Fig. 1 Historical development timeline of hammer peening process
welded structures at ultra-long life region can be improved treated magnesium alloy as showed by Amanov et al. [17].
by ultrasonic peening by imparting compressive residual On the other hand, Yang et al. demonstrated that the micro-
stress that hinders the crack propagation [15]. UNSM can structure dislocation and microhardness of laser-arc hybrid
be used to improve the tribological behavior of alloy, for welding of 5A06 aluminum alloy joint has improved after
instance, study by Amanov et al. revealed the reduction of treatment with ultrasonic peening. The wear rate showed
friction coefficient and improved wear resistance of Cu- 50% reduction as well [18]. Study by Wang et al. also eval-
based alloy after UNSM treatment [16]. Similar improve- uated the effectiveness of ultrasonic peening process in re-
ment of tribological properties also improved on UNSM- crystallization refinement and thus enhanced the mechani-
cal properties of laser metal deposited Inconel 718 [19].
Apart from ultrasound, other types of actuation system also
emerged depends on application needs. Since 1996 to 2007,
Loecker has developed electromagnetic peening system in
order to achieve optimal surface smoothening and harden-
ing effects within short period of time with minimum of
energy input [20]. Electromagnetic hammer peening is pe-
riodic contact process, whereby the hammer head is at-
tached axially and connected to a fixed coil. The accelera-
tion of oscillating hammer head during the process is
governed by the Lorentz principle [10]. When alternating
current is applied, the coil is stimulated to produce mechan-
ical vibrations on the workpiece. Such rapid motion will
then cause plastic deformation on the work piece. Most of
the peening processes such as shot peening and laser shock
peening can only be applied to relatively flat surfaces.
Electromagnetic peening becomes an alternative peening
process that can be applied on more complex and narrow
surfaces, such as component with many holes drilled on the
surface that used in aerospace and automotive industries
Fig. 2 Schematic of ultrasonic hammer peening process [10] [21]. Studies by Li et al. claimed that the electromagnetic
peening process can be used to induce compressive residual the early of the twenty-first century as shown in Figure 3. In
stress and work hardening on the components with hole the following years, hammer peening process with piezoelec-
surface after laser drilling [22]. tric actuators was introduced. Piezoelectric hammer peening
Until 2009, more different types of hammer peening sys- system is another variant of periodic contact mechanism,
tems have been developed, which includes pneumatic peening which the oscillating movement of hammer head is actuated
system by Schmucker [23] and Gerster [24], and High by an array of piezoelectric elements when an electrical volt-
Frequency Mechanical Impact (HFMI) by Ummenhofer age is applied. Its operating principle is similar to that of ul-
et al. [25]. Both of these systems have the same characteristics, trasonic impact treatment but without sonotrode [27].
which are portable and can be used by hand-held convenient- Although this process is generally faster compared to other
ly. However, they still able to achieve sufficient fatigue variants due to high frequency, the impact may not be uniform
strength improvement. Pneumatic hammer peening, or some due to small stroke or amplitude [10].
known as needle peening, consists of a cylindrical needle-like In general, the process can be categorized based on the
tube with spherical hammer head that oscillates during the mechanism of contact, which is continuous contact that in-
process to improve the fatigue strength of material. It is a cludes pneumatic driven, direct sonotrode driven and ultrason-
“cleaner” process compared to conventional shot peening as ic peening, and periodic contact that includes electromagnetic
no dust is produced, and minimal compound is needed for drive and piezoelectric-driven and sonotrode-driven hammer
lubrication [26]. Compressed air is applied to the needle-like peenings. According to Lechner et al. [28], a company in
tube and pressed against the surface. The pneumatic peening Germany (KWL) was developing this technology with the
process is usually ranging from 50 to 1000 Hz. At lower objective to replace manual polishing process in marine and
frequency-operating range (typically 80 to 240 Hz), the sys- mechanical manufacturing industry. One of the main applica-
tem is considered peening continuously on the surface. At tions of hammer peening in the manufacturing industry is
higher frequency-operating range, the hammer head is oscil- surface roughness reduction, or surface smoothening. Due to
lating at higher rate and thus become periodically in contact the capability of hammer peening to plastically deform the
with the surface [10]. For HFMI treatment, the operating prin- material, this technology has been receiving more attention
ciple is similar to conventional hammer peening process, in applications such as fatigue strength improvement, post-
which cylindrical heads are oscillating at certain frequency weld treatment, wear reduction, corrosion resistance, and ma-
to induce plastic deformation. However, HFMI operates at terial strengthening on new and existing structures.
frequency of greater than 150 Hz, which is higher than con-
ventional hammer peening process that ranged between 25
and 100 Hz [25]. With higher frequency, the overlap of inden- 3 Hammer peening process and terminology
tations is higher and results in more uniform plastic deforma-
tion with smoother surface. Since then, machine hammer Hammer peening is a mechanical surface modification pro-
peening technology has been widely adopted and developed cess which works well on a targeted area, i.e., localized pro-
in automotive industry. The importance and potential of ham- cess, which involves hammer head with high hardness that
mer peening is evident as there were active developments of oscillating at high frequency, to generate a deep layer of plas-
hammer peening and ultrasonic peening technologies since tic deformation beneath the surface. The working mechanism
Fig. 3 Number of publications

related to ultrasonic peening and
hammer peening
the hammer tool through the vibrating systems, usually are

metal pins, rods, or plunger. The cooling vanes are designed
to prevent overheating of the tool in some cases where long
process time is required.
All surface modification processes, such as shot peening,
deep rolling, laser shock peening, and hammer peening, can
generate sufficient plastic deformation on the surface and sub-
surface layer to improve the fatigue crack resistance.
However, comparing to other processes, hammer peening pro-
cess is clean, has high intensity, and able to achieve fatigue
resistance and surface smoothening in single step. Metal shot
Fig. 4 Working mechanism of hammer peening and its impacts on peening process is able to cause significant permanent defor-
surface material characteristics
mation, but leave the treated surface with irregularities and
high surface roughness due to the metal shots [29]. It is also
not a clean process as metal debris from shots will produce
and the impacts of hammer peening process on general mate- and disseminate through the air, hence it needs to be carried
rial properties such as residual stress and microhardness are out in enclosed area. On the other hand, laser shock peening
illustrated in Figure 4. can generate deep compressive residual stress profile with
The key element of hammer peening process is the impact surface hardening effect, but it requires a water confinement
energy transferred to the material, generated from the oscillat- layer to operate [30]. Similarly, for deep cold rolling, there is a
ing movement of high frequency hammer head. Such kinetic need of oil-based hydraulic fluid layer between the material
energy can be produced by various means of actuator systems, and roller ball tool [31]. Hammer peening is generally a clean-
for instance, ultrasonic, pneumatic, electromagnetic, and pie- er process as it does not require additional medium on the
zoelectric. A schematic of general hammer peening process material surface to work, except ultrasonic hammer peening.
system is showed in Figure 5. Hammer head comes in differ- Figure 6 shows an example of hammer peening system with a
ent dimensions or diameter and is one of the determining mechanical-driven high frequency hammer peening tool from
characteristics of the process outputs of hammer peening. ECOROLL AG attaching to an industrial robot arm ABB
The insert is exchangeable with different hammer heads, and IRB6660.
the vibration energy is transferred from the actuator system to Impact energy is the most critical characteristic that deter-
mines the outcome of hammer peening process. It is defined
as the amount of energy produced by the hammering tool from
a single impact. The amount of impact energy generated from
the hammer peening tool is influenced by impact or hammer-
ing frequency, impingement angle, and amplitude. Other pa-
rameters such as pitching distance, percentage overlap, and
feed rate can affect the process output of hammer peening,
for instance surface roughness, microhardness, and depth of
compressive residual stress. As hammer peening process has
different operating mechanisms, each of the variants has dif-
ferent terminologies for the parameters [10]. Nonetheless, in
this paper, the standardized terms of each process parameters
will be explained with details.
3.1 Tool diameter
As a tool-based process, the key element of hammer peening

is the dimension of the tool head, or more specifically the size
of the hammer head. In some applications on soft material,
hammer peening can be used for surface micro structuring by
peening on the workpiece’s surface using hammer tip with
specific shape, such as diamond or triangle-shaped, to produce
a uniform patterned surface with suitable parameters [28].
Fig. 5 Schematic of general hammer peening system However, in most of the applications, the hammer head is in
Fig. 6 a Setup of mechanical-

driven hammer peening tool
attaching to robotic arm. b
Example of a hammer peening
tool (mechanical-driven) provid-
ed by ECOROLL AG [32]
spherical shape unless specified otherwise. Hence, tool diam- higher impact force or energy can be achieved with higher
eter denoted by “d” is usually used to describe the size of amplitude due to higher amount of kinetic energy. However,
hammer head, and is a key variable of hammer peening it has insignificant influence on the surface roughness of the
process. hammer peened workpiece [33].
3.2 Frequency 3.5 Feed rate
The hammering frequency, f, is defined as the number of hits The feed rate, denoted as “v”, is referred to the velocity of the
or impacts on the workpiece per second. It is important as well hammer peening tool in feed direction, and in parallel to the
as it plays a major contribution to the impact energy trans- workpiece. In hammer peening process, the hammer peening
ferred to the material, that produces the effect of material tool can be attached to an external platform, which usually is a
hardening and microstructure improvement. It can also affect computer numerical control (CNC) machine or robotic arm.
the surface roughness, where increasing the frequency leads to Thus, the feed rate of the process is being controlled on the
surface smoothening effect [33]. external platform.
3.3 Angle of impingement 3.6 Indentation spacing
Angle of impingement is the angle between the surface normal The indentation spacing, “a”, is the distance between two
to the hammer head in contact and the axis of the hammering consecutive indentations produced in feed direction of every
movement. This angle can affect the amount of impact energy single peening line. The depth and size of indentations can
along with hammering frequency based on the tool character- roughly describe the magnitude of impact energy experienced
istics. Analysis showed that the change in impact angle has by the workpiece. This variable strongly influences the output
significant impact on the compressive residual stress imparted characteristics of the process and can be controlled by afore-
[32]. mentioned parameters. A mathematical formula is used to
evaluate the indentation spacing, a = v/f, where v is the feed
3.4 Amplitude rate, and f is the hammering frequency.
Amplitude or stroke height is the distance between the tip of 3.7 Indentation diameter
hammer head and the surface of workpiece. This variable is
usually fixed for different tool in controlled hammer peening The diameter of the indentations, di, produced by the hammer
process. In some cases where amplitude can be changed, peening process is different from the tool diameter, and it
depends on the material strength as well. With the same

amount of impact energy, the indentation diameter is larger
for low-strength material, and vice versa. This parameter is
required to determine the feed rate to be used based on desired
overlap. Due to the high hammering frequency, the indenta-
tions are usually overlap. Thus, a very high feed rate needs to
be used to produce a perfect isolated indentation to identify
this value (Figure 7).
3.8 Pitching distance
The pitching distance, denoted as “s”, is the distance stepover

between two hammer peening lines adjacent to each other. In
usual case, the pitching distance and indentation spacing usu-
ally are equal, unless specified otherwise.
3.9 Overlap
The percentage overlap, “o”, is the area interfered between

two neighboring impacts, as shown in Figure 8. If overlap is Fig. 8 Illustration of overlap (o), indentation spacing (a), and pitching
100%,s it means every point of the surface is peened once, distance (s) [32]
whereas if overlap is greater than 100%, every point of the
surface is peened multiple times. This variable also has deter- percentage should be high. The relationship between overlap
mining effect on the process output. For instance, if the appli- and indentation spacing can be described with this equation,
cation is for surface roughness reduction, the overlap a ¼ 10pdiﬃﬃ [32]. Study by Mannes et al. reported that the
o
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7 a Example of an isolated indentation peening line produced with very high feed rate. b Zoom-in image in determining indentation spacing and
diameter
doubling of overlap leads to significant increase in surface roughness Sa of 0.65μm, whereas for shot peened samples,
roughness for martensitic stainless steel [33]. the Sa was 2.60μm due to the stochastic behavior of shots.
Furthermore, the hammer-peened samples also developed
twice deeper of the compressive residual stress compared to
4 Current state-of-the-art shot-peened samples at the same depth [33]. Laser shock
peening (LSP) can produce similar and comparable material
Similar to all surface modification processes, hammer peening properties improvement compared to hammer peening, which
can produce great extent of plastic deformation on the material are severe plastic deformation and grain refinement to nano-
and generate a work hardening layer. By controlling the pro- scale which leads to fatigue life improvement. For laser shock-
cess parameters, different surface integrities and effects can be peened GH3039 superalloy that is commonly used in aero-
achieved, such as surface roughness reduction, fatigue life space field, LSP can generate compressive residual stress of
improvement, and wear resistance. Many research institutes −316.5 MPa on the surface to depth of about 1.2mm, thus
have invested on the development of this technology, and this increases fatigue life by a factor of 3. However, the surface
has led to deployment in some industries. It is used extensive- roughness showed slight increment, and LSP is a costly pro-
ly in the automotive industry to create doors and other chassis cess for the bulk manufacturer [37].
components of vehicles. For instance, a prominent automotive The depth of compressive residual stress from hammer
company, Mercedes-Benz, spearheaded the development of peening is substantially greater than that of shot peened, hence
the hammer peening technology in order to develop a high results in higher fatigue strength, which had been demonstrat-
speed, consistent, and flexible process for their manufacturing ed on post-welded AL-6XN stainless steel [38], and post-
plant [34]. Hammer peening has been deployed in their plant welded joints of 5XXX series aluminum armor plate [39].
in Sindelfingen to replace manual surface finishing process of On the other hand, the surface integrity of both hammer-
deep drawing dies due to its capability to produce good sur- peened and deep rolled specimens are similar even though
face roughness reduction and improvement in tribological the mechanism of these processes are different. Both process-
properties [35]. Other property-strengthening benefits also es lead to a cold worked layer on the smooth surface with deep
opened up the potential of adopting this technology in other compressive residual stress [10]. Investigations by Scheil et al.
industries, such as aerospace, oil, and gas. showed that hammer peening is able to provide greater
Mannens et al. conducted experimental analysis on the pa- amount of cold work and plastic deformation due to its higher
rameters of robot-based electromagnetic hammer peening that strain rate which results in a higher surface hardness than that
can influence the surface integrity of AISI 52100 bearing steel of deep rolling [40]. A graphical representation of the com-
that subjected to high loading in machine tools. The results parison of typical depth of influence between different surface
showed that high compressive residual stress up to −950 MPa modification processes is illustrated in Figure 9.
was introduced after the peening process. Apart from that, the Peltz et al. has conducted a study on the capability of shot
demonstrated hammer peening also showed promising capa- peening process in corrosion resistance of AISI430 stainless
bility in increasing surface hardness by 75% to the depth of steel. However, the oxidation and corrosion resistance de-
1500 μm beneath the surface layer. Based on the experimental creased after shot peening, which could be due to the high
analysis, the recommended setting to produce high compres-
sive residual stress and surface hardness is with smaller ham-
mer head and higher stroke distance. One key interesting point
is that the impact on surface roughness can be changed de-
pending on the contact energy and energy density of the pro-
cess, as hammer peening can smoothen or roughen the surface
depends on the parameters. For instance, a large hammer head
and smaller stroke height can produce smoother surface.
Therefore, it is important to understand the requirements of
material application to decide on the parameters to be used
[36].
Comparing with other surface modification processes for
example shot peening and deep cold rolling, hammer peening
can demonstrate comparable results as well. Hammer peening
can lead to smoother surface finish accompanied by higher
compressive residual stress compared to shot peening. Fig. 9 Comparison of typical depth of influence between shot peening,
Experimental data from Mannes et al. showed that hammer- laser shock peening, deep rolling, and hammer peening. (Summarized
peened martensitic stainless steel can produce surface from [11, 41–45])
surface irregularities after the process [29]. Experimental The important comparative results and data pertaining to
study by Zha et al. on metal active-gas (MAG) welding joint each mechanical and material properties after hammer
of 2205 duplex stainless steel revealed that both pneumatic peening on different materials are tabulated in Tables 1, 2, 3,
and ultrasonic hammer peening not only can introduce com- and 4, for residual stress and fatigue life improvement, surface
pressive residual stress of welded joints; they also showed roughness and wear resistance improvement, surface harden-
great improvement on pitting corrosion resistance at the treating and microstructure improvement, and corrosion resistance
ed region [46]. This showed that hammer peening process can improvement, respectively.
improve the fatigue life and corrosion resistance of treated
components in a single process. In terms of tribological prop- 4.1 Fatigue improvement
erties, Croccolo et al. investigated the effect of shot peening
and deep rolling on the connecting rod screws of bolted joints. By imparting a layer of compressive residual stress, hammer
Results showed that shot peening can reduce friction coeffi- peening is capable to improve the fatigue life of a component.
cient significantly, which brings beneficial wear resistant in A number of literatures have investigated the improvement of
both dry and wet conditions, unlike deep rolling which has no fatigue life using hammer peening, for example the fatigue
impact on wear improvement. This could be due to the more crack initiation life in notched high-strength 16CMnNV steel
porous surface texture produced by shot peening as observed showed decrement by a factor of three. The fatigue life of
[47]. As hammer peening has the capability to generate sur- hammer-peened specimen can be prolonged by approximately
face texturing, it could be potentially induced beneficial im- up to 10 times compared to the unpeened specimen [48].
provement on wear resistance. Similar fatigue life improvement also demonstrated on low-
Table 1 Residual stress and fatigue life improvement by hammer peening
References Material Surface σy1, MPa Max σy, MPa Impact Fatigue life Fatigue life cycles,
depth improvement factor N
[33] X3CrNiMo13-4 - ≈1700 >0.5 mm - -

[36] AISI 52100 −200 (before); - 300 … - -
−950 … −580 (after) 350 μm
[38] AL-6XN stainless steel - - 1.5 … 1.7 - -
mm
[39] 5XXX series aluminum - - - 1.5 -
[46] 2205 duplex stainless steel 290 … 300 (before); - - - -
−390 … −400 (after)
[48] 16CMnNV steel −234 −234 4.5 mm 1.4 … 1.7 77,000 … 87,500
(before);
129,500 …
149,000 (after)
[49] Steel S690 −50 (before); −300 (after) −100 (before); > 200 μm - 2 x 106
−500 (after)
[50] 304 L steel 10 … 20 (before); 10 … 20 0.8 mm - -
−790 … −800 (after) (before);
−790 … −800
(after)
[51] WAAM Ti-6Al-4V −1250 −1380 1.2 mm - -
[52] St 52-3 grade steel −189 (before); - 2.5 mm 1.29 1 × 107
−334 (after)
[53] S690Q steel −50 … 0 (before); - - 5 2 × 106
−350 … −450 (after)
[54] C45 steel arc sprayed with −160 ± 8 (before); - - - -
WC-W2C FeCrCMnSi −381 ± 9 (after);
[55] Nickel-base alloy 718 −180 (before); −590 (before); - - -
−580 … −730 (after) −740 … −840
(after)
[56] Weld specimen of ship structures 60% increase in stress on - - 300% increase in 106
S-N curve fatigue life
[57] Oil-grade alloy 718 −190 (before); - - - -
−730 (after)
1
σy, Measured in transverse or orthogonal to peening direction
Table 2 Surface roughness and

wear resistance improvement by References Material Coefficient of Surface Wear volume, Wear
hammer peening friction roughness, μm3 × 1.0E+5 coefficient, k,
μm mm3 Nm−1
[28] Carbon steel C45E - Ra - -

(1.1191) 1.54–1.-
98
(before);
Ra
0.30–0.-
36 (after)
[33] X3CrNiMo13-4 - Sa 0.8 - -
(before);
Sa 0.65
(after)
[58] X155CrVMo12-1 Increase after Ra 1.30 419.49 -
(1.2379) steel hammer (before);
peened Ra
0.18–0.-
40 (after)
[54] C45 steel arc sprayed 0.84 ± 0.087 Reduced Increase after 2.44 ± 0.18
with WC-W2C (before); hammer ×10−5
FeCrCMnSi 0.86 ± 0.053 peened (before);
(after) 1.36 ± 0.26
×10−5 (after)
[55] Nickel-base alloy 718 - Ra 6.08 - -
(before);
Ra
0.38–0.-
50 (after)
[57] Oil-grade alloy 718 - Ra 43.61 - -
(before);
Ra 9.04
(after)
alloy high strength-welded structural steel S690 due to the peened. For instance, the peak residual stress near the weld
presence of compressive residual stress [49]. Furthermore, toe of medium strength structural steel can reach the yield
study by Hacini et al. showed that the impact of compressive stress magnitude in compression, and the area of impact is
residual stress generated up to depth of nearly 1mm on 304L approximately 5mm from the impact based on the hardness
steel plates [50]. As hammer peening is a directional process depth profiling [52]. Lefebvre et al. reported that the improve-
whereby the tool is peening the specimen line by line, the ment factor of fatigue resistance increases up to 5 when ham-
residual compressive stress normal to the peening direction mer peening with double sweeping on high strength welded
is higher than that of along feed direction [60]. Such material steel S690Q, which means hammering in longitudinal and
behavior is known as anisotropic and is common for direc- transverse directions [53].
tional guided tool processes, such as deep rolling and machine
hammer peening [51]. A general illustration of fatigue life 4.2 Wear and friction improvement
improvement by different surface modification processes
compared to the unpeened is presented in Figure 10. Hammer peening has been proven to exhibit the capability of
Hammer peening is also widely used in fatigue life im- increasing the hardness in the surface and sub-surface layer by
provement at welded joint due to its capability of localized creating a strain-hardening layer due to plastic deformation
treatment and able to program and peen following the geomet- [49]. This leads to high wear resistance of the machined sur-
rical dimensions of the welded area. By introducing the com- face. Micro-hardness profiles indicate the depth of influence
pressive residual stress at weld toe, the stress concentration at of hammer peening process other than residual stress curve.
that region can be decreased due to plastic deformation on The surface hardness after the peening process can also pro-
base metal. Hence, fatigue strength of welded joints can be vide information about the initial stress state of the treating
improved due to fatigue crack retardation after hammer part [50]. On hammer-peened weld toes, the hardening effect
Table 3 Surface hardening and microstructure improvement by hammer peening
References Material Max surface hardness Max micro-hardness Impact Hardness Micro-structural grain Max
depth, μm increment changes KAM, 0
[36] AISI 51200 200 HV/5 (before); 310 235 HV/0.1 (before); 1500 75% Significant grain size -
HV/5 (after) 375 HV/0.1 (after) reduction to submicron
range
[43] WAAM - 330 HV/1 (before); 1000–2000 - Grain refinement -
Ti-6Al-4V 360 HV/1 (after)
[46] 2205 Duplex 265–270 HV/10 (before); - - - - -
stainless steel 285–290 HV/10 (after)
[49] S690 steel - 280 HV/0.01 250–300 - Ultra-fine grain layer 0.6–0.65
(before); 350 formed
HV/0.01 (after)
[51] WAAM - 492 HV 1800 - Refined and reoriented β -
Ti-6Al-4V grains up to 3mm deep
[53] S690Q steel - - - - Nanometric grains layer -
formed with 100-μm
thickness
[58] X155CrVMo12-1 290 HV/1.5 (before); 605 - - 5–14% - -
(1.2379) steel HV/1.5 (after)
[55] Nickel-base alloy - 340 HV/0.3 (before); 1500 - Ultrafine grains (10–30nm) -
718 450 HV/0.3 (after) formed up to 350–400
μm
[57] Oil-grade alloy 260 HV/0.3 (before); 350 HV/0.3 (before); 1000 - Plastically deformed layer -
718 340 HV/0.3 (after) 450 HV/0.3 (after) with 250-μm thickness
[59] AM AA2319 98 HV/0.1 (before); 160 118 HV/0.1 (before); - 50% Fine and equiaxed grains -
HV/0.1 (after) 178 HV/0.1 (after) with reduced porosity
[59] AM AA4043 - 61 HV/0.1 (before); 3000 70% Fine and equiaxed grains -
96 HV/0.1 (after) with reduced porosity
is localized such that the hardness is maximum at the region process of high-strength sheet metal, tungsten carbide coat-
where hammer peening impacted on with approximately 40% ings are being thermally sprayed to improve the tribological
improvement from the unpeened part, and slowly decreased to characteristics. Since it is an arc spraying process, the surface
non-hammered hardness value when moving away from the finish is very rough, hence hammer peening was being inves-
region [49]. Due to high impact energy, hammer peening is tigated as the smoothening application. Apart from surface
being applied in automotive industry to improve the wear roughness reduction and increase in compressive residual
resistance of deep drawing tools [62]. It is also being used in stress of coatings, the wear resistance also showed improve-
tool and mold forming process chain by reducing the ment with lower wear coefficient after hammer peening [54].
polishing time significantly. By applying hammer peening Tribological properties improvement study conducted by
as mechanical alloying process, significant tribological prop- Avcu et al. elucidated that the shot-peened Ti-6Al-4V alloy
erties improvement can be seen on coated tool steel with re- with larger shots (S60) showed approximately 35% surface
duction in wear, with surface hardness increment of up to 14% hardness increment compared to unpeened samples.
for hardened and unhardened samples [58]. In the forming However, it compensated with average surface roughness
Table 4 Corrosion resistance improvement by hammer peening
References Material Inter-crystalline corrosion rate, Corrosion Corrosion current Pitting Open circuit
mg/(dm2day) potential, mV density, μA/cm2 potential, mV potential, V
[46] 2205 Duplex 385 (before); 398 (before); 0.73 (before); 821 (before); -
stainless steel 290 (after) 407 (after) 0.46 (after) 895 (after)
[55] Nickel-base alloy - −275 ± 5 0.22 ± 0.05 (before); 370 ± 15 More positive
718 (before); 0.13 ± 0.03 (after) (before); after HP
−259 ± 4 (after) 504 ± 13
(after)
[57] Oil-grade alloy 718 - −0.277 (before); 0.263 (before); 0.288 (before); -
−0.239 (after) 1.58 (after) 0.671 (after)
Fig. 10 General illustration of

fatigue life comparison between
unpeened, shot peened, and
hammer peened. (Mild Steel)
Redrawn from [61]
increment up to 12% after shot peening [63]. This issue could achieved smoother surface finish. In some instances, a
be avoided by hammer peening as it can achieve both wear mirror-like surface can be developed with appropriate control
resistance and surface smoothening in single process. of parameters [28]. In general, the impact angle and peening
Surface smoothening is the pioneer application of hammer distance (amplitude) can also affect the surface finish of com-
peening in industry process chain of pressing dies in automo- ponent as they can determine the impact energy of hammer
tive. By using suitable parameters, the surface roughness of a peening. By increasing the peening distance, the surface
milled surface of plain carbon steel C45E can be reduced by roughness of hardened steel decreases gradually from milled
up to 64%. By using tool size with larger diameter combining condition, whereas the surface roughness of unhardened ma-
with higher overlap percentage of hammer peening impacts, terial demonstrated the opposite trend. This could be ex-
the surface roughness was found to be decreasing and plained by the higher amplitude leads to higher impact energy
Fig. 11 a Graphical representation of microstructural grain refinement 1500μm (redrawn based on [36]). b IPF map of grain-size structure for
influenced by hammer peening at different depths, with surface up to hammer-peened surface layer at different depths [36]
50μm, sub-surface between 800 and 1000μm, and bulk more than
onto the material surface, results in deeper indentations. As hammer peening process, where the impact only transmitted
more materials being “pushed” to the side of the peening line, to specified treated region. Although it cannot be proven that
it increased the surface roughness. Hence, to achieve desired the fine grains help to prolong the fatigue life, it is undeniable
surface smoothening, the parameters of hammer peening for that hammer peening is able to cause microstructural change.
different types of material conditions need to be carefully On nickel-base alloy 718, mill finishing process was able to
studied [58]. plastically deform the surface up to thickness of 100μm,
In some applications, hammer peening also being used for whereas hammer peening process was able to further deform
surface texturing by machining the negative form of desired the specimen up to 400μm with severe plastic deformation.
surface structure on the hammer peening head. Lechner et al. However, it is also worth to note that similar inhomogeneous
demonstrated the capability of surface structuring of alumi- and regional deformation observed in hammer-peened nickel-
num alloy EN AW-6060 in the range of μm using specifically base alloy 718 from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
shaped tool head [28]. In drawing tools production, hammer images. Other than ultra-fine grains, from transmission elec-
peening not only can be used to reduce polishing time vastly, tron microscopy (TEM) images, deformation twins were iden-
micro-texturing also can be machined on the tools’ surfaces to tified in this deformation layer, and the density is decreased as
provide deterministic features and tribological improvement. moving away from the peened surface. The formation of such
After the texturing done with suitable settings, the friction deformation twins is due to high degree of dislocation density
coefficient of textured components has reduced compared to that inhibits the slip between grain boundaries [55]. It is plau-
conventionally polished tools [64]. In surface finishing appli- sible to say that hammer peening process is a localized process
cation of aerospace and automotive industries, surface tex- which leads to material and microstructural change at specific
tures generated by hammer peening play a vital role in fluid treated region, and this is suitable for on-site repair process on
interface friction. Three-dimensional computational fluid dy- any large component, without the need to treat the whole
namics analysis revealed that the surface textures should be component.
arranged in such a way that transversally overlapping and
longitudinally clearly separated for minimal friction [65].
4.4 Corrosion resistance improvement
4.3 Microstructure refinement
Corrosion resistance is a new area of development for hammer
A strain-hardened layer is produced on the surface of hammer peening process as there is not much widely adaptation in
peened material due to the plastic deformation. In microstruc- industry yet. In marine industry, hammer peening is able to
tural analysis, hammer peening can produce a superficial layer demonstrate corrosion strength improvement combined with
that exhibits ultra-fine grains which give rise to the increase of cathodic protection layer on welded joints of ship structures
dislocation and hence contributes to the fatigue life improve- [56]. In oil and gas industry, nickel-base alloy 718 is being
ment. A graphical illustration of microstructural changes used for downhole drilling components of the bottom hole
caused by hammer peening is showed in Figure 11. The in- assembly which subjected to severe corrosive environments
verse pole figure maps (IPF) of hammer-peened high strength due to high chloride content. When a material exposed to such
steel S690 welded toe obtained from EBSD technique, illus- environmental condition, various environmental-induced
trated the microstructural change with the formation of an
ultra-fine grain superficial layer that extends deep up to about
400μm. This depth is overlapped with the thickness of strain-
hardened layer as observed from the micro-hardness profile,
which extends to depth of 250–300μm [49]. This suggested
that the ultra-fine and elongated grains increased the density of
dislocations and hence hardened the component after hammer
peening. Full-width half-max values from X-ray diffraction
measurement on the welded steel also have proven the
strain-hardening effect of hammer peening. It is explained that
these ultra-fine microstructures delay the crack initiation on
the surface and sub-surface layer, thus contributed to the fa-
tigue life improvement. Lefebvre et al. also pointed out that
this nano-scale grains superficial layer is heterogeneous,
hence the direct relationship between microstructural refine-
ment and fatigue life improvement could not be concluded Fig. 12 Typical potentiodynamic polarization curves of unpeened and
[53]. Nonetheless, this could be due to the localized effect of hammer-peened specimens as described in [57]
material failures such as pitting corrosion, stress-corrosion microstructure that has high porosity and voids that lead to
cracking, sulfide stress cracking, and corrosion fatigue would poor fatigue resistance. Therefore, post-processing of AM
occur [66]. Deep compressive residual stress due to severe parts has also been the focus of development in the light of
plastic deformation results from hammer peening process, to- developing new AM technique. The type of post-processing
gether with smooth surface finish and formation of nano-sized steps includes machining (cutting, grinding), abrasion (media
grains and multi-directional nano-twins, leads to improvement finishing, sandblasting), plastic deformation (shot peening),
in pitting corrosion resistance of material. Hammer-peened chemical, and laser.
nickel-base alloy 718 exhibits more positive values of open Laser shock peening (LSP) has been studied recently to be
circuit potential compared to mill finished specimens due to potentially used as post-processing step of AM parts to im-
the formation of a passive oxide film with less defects on the prove the fatigue life and surface hardness of metal alloys.
surface. Further analysis of electrochemical impedance spec- Study by Lan et al. on Ti-6Al-4V samples built by selective
troscopy (EIS) revealed lower capacitance and higher polari- laser melting (SLM) demonstrated that LSP can produce com-
zation resistance of the film developed on hammer-peened pressive residual stress up to −180MPa and depth up to
specimens than that of milled, which indicates the thick barrier 250μm. Deformation twins also formed after LSP which give
layer is protecting the surface from corrosion [55]. Liu et al. rise to grain refinement of α’ phase [69]. Apart from that, laser
concluded that nanocrystallization of grains improved the peening also showed the greatest fatigue strength improve-
electrochemical corrosion behavior of metals and alloys due ment on titanium alloy Ti6AL4V manufactured by electron
to the passivation of stable protective film [67]. From poten- beam melting (EBM), as compared to cavitation peening and
tiodynamic polarization curves of nickel-base alloy 718, the shot peening (SP) [70]. However, LSP process usually leaves
pitting corrosion potential of hammer-peened specimens ablative marks and uneven surface finish, and need further
shifted towards to less negative, and corrosion current densi- polishing steps. Another issue with LSP is the thermal degra-
ties decreased compared to milled specimens. Apart from dation of favorable microstructural modifications, hence hin-
smooth surface finish and deep compressive residual stress, dering its application in high temperature environments [71].
formation of homogeneous oxide layer due to nano-grains and In aircraft manufacturing, wire plus arc additive manufactur-
nano-twins microstructure is also an important key player in ing (WAAM) is used to manufacture large aerospace compo-
corrosion resistance improvement in nickel-base alloy materi- nents in aluminum and titanium alloys with minimal material
al [57]. When aging heat treatment is applied on hammer- wastage. WAAM often produce parts with large columnar
peened specimens, although the surface hardness increased, grains and detrimental tensile residual stress that promote
the corrosion resistance has decreased due to microstructural crack initiation and propagation. Hence, heat treatment pro-
change with the formation of γ’/γ” strengthening phases and cess combined with LSP was studied by Chi et al. to enhance
relaxation of residual stress. This proved that the interaction the mechanical properties and microstructure refinement of
between microstructure, compressive residual stress genera- WAAM Ti17 alloy [72].
tion, and surface roughness are prime factors of corrosion Given the limited capability of LSP on produce good sur-
resistance [68]. Figure 12 showed a comparison of corrosion face finish simultaneously, some researches have been con-
resistance between unpeened and hammer-peened specimens ducted on using hammer peening as an alternative for post
in potentiodynamic polarization curve. processing of AM parts after WAAM. Hammer peening offers
greater flexibility than deep rolling and burnishing process,
4.5 Additive manufacturing thus suitable to be applied on any geometry with appropriate
tool path programming, and does not require heavy load gan-
Additive manufacturing (AM) has currently undergone rigor- try system. However, there are absences of detailed study of
ously development and research in wide fields of industry due the application of hammer peening on AM parts [73]. Study
to its myriads of benefits. AM is a low-cost process that can by Neto has proven the capability of hammer peening in im-
produce high strength end products in small and complex proving the microstructures of additively manufactured
geometry within short time interval. This is essential to meet AA4043 and AA2319 by effectively removing the porosity.
the fast-growing industrial needs and economic growth. A The depth of porosity free zone increases with increasing
plethora of AM methods has been developed, for instance, overlap. Furthermore, the hardness also showed increment
selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting up to 50% for AA2319 and up to 70% for AA40434 after
(EBM), direct energy deposition, powder bed fusion (PBF), hammer peening [59].
metal binder jetting, just to name a few. While these processes Another application of WAAM technology is the deposi-
can produce net shape or near-net shape of parts, but most of tion of Ti-6AL-4V alloy, which commonly used in aerospace
them exhibits very rough surface and often need post process- industry. Inter-pass cold rolling has been used to improve the
ing steps such as machining and polishing. Apart from high microstructure of WAAM Ti-6AL-4V alloys by applying load
surface roughness, SLM can produce heterogeneous on top surface of each layer with a roller, and followed by
depositing the next layer. This process is useful in the fatigue

life improvement of mentioned material, but as the demand of
applying WAAM on larger components with more complex
geometries, inter-pass cold rolling process becomes cost inef-
fective and time consuming. Hence, inter-pass hammer
peening is explored as the alternative in applying uniform load
at every layer due to its flexibility and able to refine the co-
lumnar grains structure. With the study conducted by Neto
et al., inter-pass hammer peening has proved to be able to
achieve grain refinement and increase in tensile properties
[43]. Similar study also conducted by Hönnige et al. and re-
ported that the grain refined region was 3mm, which was
deeper than the depth of work hardening (1.2mm). Together
with EBSD plastic strain map, it can be observed that the
penetration depth of hammer peening is approximately
1.2mm from the surface. It was also suspected that the newly
refined and oriented β grains regrew into the material when
the process heat from inter-pass hammer peening approached
[51].
4.6 Limitations and challenges
Hammer peening is a high-frequency tool-based process, and

its key working principle is varying upon different actuation
mechanism within the hammer tool. Hammer peening tool
requires an external carrier system to work, usually an indus-
trial robot arm or computer numerical control (CNC) machine.
The dynamic behavior of the external system thus can influ-
ence the capability and stability of the hammer peening pro- Fig. 13 Geometric model of turbine blade with fir-tree root feature [75]
cess. Apart from the stochastic nature of hammer peening
process, study from Krall et al. pointed out that velocity be-
havior of robot arm in machine hammer peening process led to residual stress, with corrosion and wear resistant on structural
multiple impacts of the hammer tip along the tool path [74]. metals and alloys. However, it is still considered as a relatively
Despite that being said, Mannes et al. also deduced that the new and novel surface modification process and yet to be
high stiffness of robot can limit the lateral deviation of robot adopted in various industries. For high-strength structural
arm movement during the hammer peening process along the steel, ultrasonic peening is being implemented in aerospace,
planned tool path, hence produced a generally stable and re- marine, automotive, railway, and construction industries to
peatable process [36]. Furthermore, in conventional hammer improve fatigue performance, corrosion, and wear resistance,
peening process, each peening line usually overlaps with each especially welded structures [76]. Various surface modifica-
other for a treated area, hence slight deviation less likely to tion processes such as shot peening, vibro-peening, deep cold
cause detrimental effect on the process outputs. rolling, laser shock peening, and water jet cavitation peening
Another key challenge of hammer peening process is the have been covered and studied by Kumar et al. for the effect
accessibility. Some components have very high intricate and on microstructural change of nickel-base superalloys, except
narrow region, such as the fan blade root and fir-tree turbine hammer peening [77]. Hence, it can be suggested that hammer
blade root in aircraft engine as shown in Figure 13. A bulky peening still has yet received its place in surface enhancement
hammer peening tool may have difficulty in accessing and field.
treating these areas. Every surface modification process has its own strength
and weakness. For example, shot peening process can produce
high compressive residual stress at near-surface depth, but the
5 Future development directions depth of influence is lower compared to deep cold rolling and
laser shock peening. Similar for hammer peening, it can
Hammer peening has been proven its capability to increase the achieve very high compressive residual stress at near-surface
fatigue life and impart beneficial and deep compressive depth but leaves with high surface roughness, and vice versa.
Fu et al. demonstrated the idea of composite surface modifi- insignificant change [81]. However, there are still more work
cation by combining the benefits of two of more surface pro- need to be done to develop clear correlation between the pro-
cesses and produced greater outputs from both in single step. cess outputs and Almen intensities. There was also some de-
By combining water jet peening and ultrasonic surface rolling velopment work by Ciampini et al. to model the Almen strip
on AISI 4340 high strength steel, it brought a greater improve- curvature in vibratory finishing process in order to develop a
ment in residual stress and roughness compared to separate process control method [82]. Therefore, it can be seen that in
process [78]. Hence, hammer peening can be potentially com- order to industrialize hammer peening process to be adopted
bined with other surface modification process to bring out by industry, it is utmost important to establish a validated
even greater surface integrity improvement. process control method.
While there are abundant of development work in progress, It is known that Almen strip system has been use to quan-
there is lack of well-established process monitoring and con- tify the process output of shot peening for decades. Such
trol method on the output. In shot peening, Almen system has established system can correlate the Almen intensities with
been used and accepted by various industries as proven meth- process parameters accurately despite the process is time con-
odology to quantify the process outputs [79]. In automated suming and labor extensive. Recently there are some studies
hammer peening process, parameters such as hitting frequen- to develop sensor system that can correlate pressure and shot
cy and angle of impingement can be controlled, but these are velocity against Almen intensity to achieve real-time process
still at process upstream and varied for different types of ac- monitoring and control without the extra validation step using
tuator system in hammer peening tool. For example, the drive Almen strip. Pressure sensors have demonstrated the potential
speed calculation for motor-drive tool and spindle-driven tool to replace Almen strip in shot peening process and opened up
are different at the same frequency in Hertz [32]. There is still the future of real-time process monitoring, albeit there are still
lacking of a standardized process output control method that is more validations to be done [83]. Further study by Teo et al.
applicable across all different tools in hammer peening pro- also investigated accelerometer and acoustic emission (AE)
cess. Feldmann et al. attempted to use Almen strips as process sensor to correlate with media flow rate and monitor the shot
monitoring method for deep rolling process. The Almen sat- peening process. However, the correlation is considerably low
uration curves for different sizes of roller tool can be plotted [84]. For hammer peening process, it is important to not over-
but they were unable to correlate well with residual stress look the possibility to develop a real-time process monitoring
curves of component [80]. Lienert et al. also compared the system using sensors to correlate the process output with input
Almen strips intensities generated by different kinds of ham- parameters. This is vital for the future of hammer peening
mer peening process and burnishing process. Process outputs process to be incorporated in the Industry 4.0 with inter-con-
such as surface roughness and compressive residual stress nectivity. Figure 14 summarized the possible future develop-
showed variations between different processes when correlate ment directions for hammer peening process in order to
with Almen deflection, whereas surface hardness showed
Fig. 14 Summary of future development directions of hammer peening process

become a well-established and widely accepted surface mod- additive manufacturing and different types of metal alloys,
ification process in various industries. development of a validated process monitoring method
should not be overlooked.
6 Conclusions
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Dr. Karsten
Roettger, Stefan Zenk, and Marco Nischkowsky of ECOROLL AG for
Hammer peening has proven its capability as a novel surface providing the ECOpeen-A peening tool and its operating manual for
modification process that is able to enhance fatigue life of process understanding.
components, particularly metal alloys, by imparting deep
compressive residual stress and producing thick layer of strain Author contribution Conceptualization, W.L. Chan and H. Cheng; re-
hardening beneath the well finished surface, compared to the sources, W.L. Chan and H. Cheng; writing—original draft preparation,
W.L. Chan; writing—review and editing, W.L. Chan and H. Cheng. All
conventional shot peening process. Ultra-fine grain micro-
authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
structures that are formed after hammer peening hinders the
fatigue crack propagation. Besides, its ability to provide cor- Funding This research received funding from Agency of Science,
rosion and wear resistance to treated components opened up Technology and Research (Singapore) with Award Number: APNE,
its possibility to be applied in marine, ship, and oil and gas awarded to Dr Henry Kuo Feng, Cheng.
industries. Various types of hammer peening mechanisms that
have been developed and evolved over the years have been Data availability Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no
datasets were generated from this review article.
summarized in this paper. All the different variants are able to
deliver the objective of hammer peening process, which is to Code availability Not applicable.
generate severe plastic deformation. Nonetheless, the mecha-
nism to be selected and deployed is subject to the suitability of Declarations
application. For instance, ultrasonic hammer peening can be
used to treat components with intricate features and geome- Ethics approval and consent to participate This article does not contain
tries, whereas robotic high frequency hammer peening is suit- any studies involving human participants performed by any of the au-
able to treat large components efficiently. Seeing the different thors. The authors declare the highest standard of ethics in conducting
their research work and have gone through the necessary internal ap-
mechanisms of hammer peening system, the authors have provals of the organization in submitting this article. The authors agree
summarized the list of process parameters that can be stan- to provide their consent for participation.
dardized across the different hammer peening processes.
Although hammer peening has been extensively studied by Consent for publication The authors agree to provide their consent for
many researchers on its application in fatigue improvement on publication.
welding zones, it is a relatively new and novel process for
Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests.
treating medium and high strength structural steels and alloys.
On the other hand, hammer peening has proven to be able to
generate comparable depth of compressive residual stress to
laser shock peening, and even deeper than that of shot
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The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (2022) 118:683–701

Hammer peening technology—the past, present, and future

Keywords Hammer peening . Surface modification . Residual stress . Fatigue . Manufacturing

1 Introduction reduce stress concentration points where occur at rough sur-

Fig. 1 Historical development timeline of hammer peening process

Fig. 3 Number of publications

the hammer tool through the vibrating systems, usually are

3.1 Tool diameter

As a tool-based process, the key element of hammer peening

Fig. 6 a Setup of mechanical-

3.2 Frequency 3.5 Feed rate

3.3 Angle of impingement 3.6 Indentation spacing

depends on the material strength as well. With the same

3.8 Pitching distance

The pitching distance, denoted as “s”, is the distance stepover

The percentage overlap, “o”, is the area interfered between

Table 1 Residual stress and fatigue life improvement by hammer peening

[33] X3CrNiMo13-4 - ≈1700 >0.5 mm - -

Table 2 Surface roughness and

[28] Carbon steel C45E - Ra - -

Table 3 Surface hardening and microstructure improvement by hammer peening

Table 4 Corrosion resistance improvement by hammer peening

Fig. 10 General illustration of

depositing the next layer. This process is useful in the fatigue

4.6 Limitations and challenges

Hammer peening is a high-frequency tool-based process, and

Fig. 14 Summary of future development directions of hammer peening process

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