Effect of Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment on Fatigue Lives of Alloy 718

The effect of surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) and its duration on fatigue lives of alloy 718 has been studied. The SMAT process was carried out in vacuum (-0.1 MPa) with SAE 52100 steel balls of 5 mm diameter for 30 and 60 min at a vibrating frequency of 50 Hz. SMAT resulted in surface nanocrystallization, higher surface roughness, higher surface hardness, higher compressive residual stress, higher tensile strength, reduced ductility and superior fatigue lives. The enhancement in the fatigue lives of treated samples can be attributed to the positive influence of nanostructured surface layer, compressive residual stress and work hardened layer, which surpassed the negative effect of increased surface roughness. There was no significant difference between the fatigue lives of samples treated for 30 and 60 min.