Improvement of gradient microstructure and properties of wire-arc directed energy deposition titanium alloy via laser shock peening

Wire-arc directed energy deposition (WADED) technology has been widely used in the remanufacturing of titanium alloy structural components benefited from with the advantages such as high deposition efficiency and low cost. However, due to the coarse and anisotropic microstructure, the complex internal stresses and processing-induced rough surface significantly reduce fatigue performance and reliability of the remanufactured structural components. In this work, surface modification of titanium alloy WADED repair component was carried out via laser shock peening (LSP), and its gradient structure, microhardness, residual stress and fatigue performance and enhancement mechanism were systematically investigated. Results indicated that the different microstructure of each region led to different responses under the action of LSP, which was related to the change of dislocation density. LSP induced crystal defects such as high-density dislocations, twins and stacking faults on the surface. A variety of crystal defects gradually decreased with the depth from the strengthened surface, formed a gradient microstructure and significantly affected the microhardness and residual stress of the repaired components. The surface hardness and compressive residual stress of the repaired components were greatly increased after LSP and the hardened layer and compressive residual stress depth affected layer were 600 μm and 800 μm, respectively. The average fatigue life of the additive repair component increased by 197 % under the synergistic effect of compressive residual stress and gradient microstructure.