A DEM-FEM Coupled Analysis of Ultrasonic Shot Peening Dynamics and Surface Modification Parameters in Aluminum Alloys

The significant mechanical features of aluminum alloy, including cost-effectiveness, lightweight, durability, high reliability, and easy maintenance, have made it an essential component of the automobile industry. Automobile parts including fuel tanks, cylinder heads, intake manifolds, brake elements, and engine blocks are made of aluminum alloy. The primary causes of its engineering failure are fatigue and fracture. Aluminum alloys' fatigue resistance is frequently increased by surface strengthening methods like ultrasonic shot peening (USP). This article discusses the shot peening dynamics analysis and the influence of ultrasonic shot peening parameters on material surface modification using the DEM-FEM coupling method. Firstly, the projectile motion characteristics under different processes are simulated and analyzed by EDEM. The projectile dynamics characteristics are imported into Ansys software to realize DEM-FEM coupling analysis, and the surface modification characteristics of shot peening materials are obtained. The distribution laws of projectile impact velocity and impact angle are summarized through EDEM simulation of USP with different parameters. At the same time, taking the projectile impact velocity and impact angle as input parameters, combined with ANSYS analysis software, the maximum residual stress and average residual stress of the material under the known peening process conditions are calculated.