Shot peening effect on aluminide diffusion coating formation on alloy steels at low temperatures

This study reveals the enhancement effect of shot peening on the kinetics of aluminide diffusion coating growth on alloy steels at temperatures below 675 °C. This enhancement effect is larger at lower processing temperatures, but progressively diminishes as temperature increases. The activation energy for coating growth in the peened surface is lower than in the unpeened surface, indicating that the influence of diffusion through grain boundary and/or microstructure defects is larger in the peened surface than in the unpeened surface.