Assessment of Corrosion Resistance and Hardness of Shot Peened X5CrNi18-10 Steel.

Although the application of shot peening facilitates increasing hardness and corrosion resistance of stainless steel, the inappropriate peening parameters result in overestimated hardening and exaggerated surface roughness, which deteriorate the surface morphology and negatively affect the corrosive behavior of treated steel. Therefore it is crucial to select the peening parameters that allow obtaining both high hardness and elevated corrosion resistance. This study aims to determine the effect of X5CrNi18-10 stainless steel samples shot peening on the surface morphology, hardness, and corrosion resistance. Samples were shot peened with a CrNi steel shot, applying 0.3 MPa and 0.4 MPa peening pressures and treatment times of 60 s and 120 s. Roughness analysis and microscopic and SEM-EDS examination were employed to state the effect of peening parameters on the sample's corrosive behavior in a 3.5% NaCl solution. The most promising shot peening parameters for Vickers hardness and electrochemical corrosion resistance were selected. It is revealed that the surface roughness increase has a detrimental effect on the corrosion behavior. Overall, high corrosion resistance and the high hardness of stainless steel samples were noted for the peening pressure of 0.4 MPa and time treatment of 60 s.