Effect of brass composition and phases on stress corrosion mitigation by laser shock peening

While laser shock peening (LSP) is meant to mitigate stress corrosion cracking (SCC) by inducing compressive residual stress, it is also known to produce dense dislocation tangles in the treated surface. The impact of such microstructure changes on SCC resistance is material-dependent and not well-understood. In this study single-phase brass 260 and two-phase brass 280 with different zinc content were LSP treated and subjected to SCC. Besides the competing effects of compressive stress and dislocation generation, dezincification was identified as a contributor to SCC specifically in brasses. Reduction of dezincification from LSP was evaluated using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).