A blended empirical shot stream velocity model for improvement of shot peening production

Peening intensity and coverage are vital measurement outputs to quantify the quality of a peening process in the surface enhancement operation of metal parts. In practice, these parameters can only be measured offline upon process completion, which is not suitable for online tracking and operation. Instead, shot stream velocity can be used as a real-time monitoring parameter to bridge operational inputs to the outputs. As such, a robust and accurate shot stream velocity model is needed for real-time tracking. In this study, we propose a blended practical model for shot stream velocity to address the issues. The model is constructed using a regression algorithm based on the blended candidate functions, which are developed from the experimental data and nature of the particle-air flow inside the system. The obtained model is validated against the experimental data for ASR 70 media type for different operating conditions of the inlet airflow pressure and media flowrate. Calculated velocities are in good agreement with the measurements. In addition, the developed model is applied to predict the shot stream velocity for ASR 230 media type, as well as to evaluate the peening intensity and coverage for different media types under different operating conditions. The predicted results are comparable to the measurement data under the same operating conditions. The maximum relative error of the predicted shot stream velocity and measurement velocity is about 5%, while the maximum error in peening intensity is about ±0.0065 mmA. Furthermore, a single-input and single-output model-based control is developed based on the proposed shot stream velocity model. The developed control system is robust, accurate, and reliable. It implies that the developed model can be used to provide the necessary information, as well as to develop the optimal process control system to improve and accelerate the peening processes for cost and time reduction of actual production.