Fretting wear mechanism of GH4169 dovetail joint specimens treated with hybrid laser shock peening

Aero engine blade structure is prone to severe fretting wear under centrifugal forces and vibration loads, resulting in greatly reduced engine service life, which is a typical fretting damage problem. In this paper, without Absorbing layer Nanosecond Laser Shock Peening (wAN-LSP) and without Absorbing layer Nanosecond superimposed Femtosecond hybrid Laser Shock Peening (NF-LSP) are utilized to strengthen the surface of GH4169 dovetail joint specimens, which is a common material for engine blades, to explore its strengthening mechanism and fretting wear evolution law. The findings indicate that the surface roughness of the wAN-LSP specimen rises from 0.28 μm to 1.16 μm. The thermal effects of wAN-LSP lead to the formation of a molten layer roughly 10.97 μm thick on the surface, accompanied by numerous pits, ablation holes, and micro-cracks. In contrast, NF-LSP treatment effectively eliminates the surface oxidation defects made by the thermal effects of wAN-LSP, leading to a slight decrease in surface roughness. Both wAN-LSP and NF-LSP treatments enhance the surface hardness of the specimens, creating a plastic deformation layer roughly 400 μm deep, but the near surface hardness of NF-LSP treated specimen is further improved compared to that of the wAN-LSP specimen. The wear mechanism observed in the GH4169 dovetail joint specimens following wAN-LSP and NF-LSP treatment are identified as abrasive wear and oxidation wear. Initially, as the number of cycles raises, the wear volume of GH4169 specimen treated with wAN-LSP is higher than that of untreated specimen, but subsequently, it becomes lesser than that of the untreated specimen. This phenomenon results from the interplay between the molten layer and hardened layer. In the initial stage of wear, despite the surface strengthening of the wAN-LSP specimen, the presence of molten layer significantly diminishes the fretting wear resistance of the material. As wear progresses, the molten layer is removed, revealing the benefits of surface strengthening. Throughout the wear process, the wear volume of NF-LSP specimen remains consistently lower than that of other two specimens. In comparison to the wAN-LSP treatment, NF-LSP treatment can enhance the surface condition of the material, leading to improve resistance of fretting wear across various wear stages.