Optimisation of Process Parameters in Water Jet Peening on AA6063 Aluminium Alloy by Response Surface Methodology

Water Jet Peening (WJP) is a modern non-traditional surface treatment process which is used to improve the surface integrity of a material. In this study Aluminium Alloy (AA 6063) is subjected to Water jet peening surface treatment. The input process parameters considered are water jet pressure, standoff Distance and Traverse rate and the response parameters used in this study are Hardness (HV) and Surface roughness (Ra ). In the present work, the experiments are carried out by Box-Behnken Design (BBD) by Response Surface Methodology (RSM) techniques, which are used to study the influential factor on Water jet Peening process parameters. The experimental result indicates that there is a significant improvement in Hardness and Surface roughness of the peened sample over base sample. The compressive residual stresses were compared to the base sample and no significant changes were observed in the water jet peened surface. Surface hardening takes place over the surface of the peened surface which is shown in the XRD profile.