Evolution of Shot Peening on the CF-18 - From OEM to Robotic

Author:  Sylvain Forgues, Major Jean Brosseau
Source:  Conf Proc: ICSP-9 (pg 36-41)
Doc ID:  2005048
Year of Publication:  2005
Abstract:  
ABSTRACT In this article, the evolution of the shot peening process on the CF-18 will be discussed. This includes the original peening on the aircraft as performed by the manufacturer, the manual peening performed later as part of a life improvement program and the robotic peening more recently developed to ensure a peening of high quality and repeatability in difficult to access locations. The steps taken over the years to improve manual peening will be described as well as the requirement leading to the development of the in-situ robotic shot peening system. The in-situ robotic shot peening system will be presented along with the software and hardware development performed to obtain a fully functional production system. Finally, current in-situ robotic shot peening applications on the CF-18 will be presented to highlight the challenges in applying this new technology.