The shot peening process bombards a metal surface with small metal or ceramic balls called “shot.” Each piece of shot striking the material acts as a tiny peening hammer, compressing and stretching the metal’s surface. The process greatly enhances the durability of the metal and extends the service life of critical components such as aircraft landing gear and structural components.

Shot peen forming takes the process one step further, enabling the metal stretching to precisely shape aerodynamic curvatures in aluminum aircraft wing skins. Today we shape all of the wing skins for Airbus’ commercial jets.

Market Applications:

• Commercial Aerospace – wing skins, spars, ribs, stringers and other structural components; turbine engines and fan blades; landing gear (caption: Shot peen forming strengthens and shapes the complex curvatures of the Airbus A380 wing skins)
• General & Competitive Automotive – connecting rods, crankshafts, transmission gears, axle bodies, hollow, stabilizers, hubs, pistons and valves
• General Industrial – architectural structures and construction; marine engines, oilfield drilling equipment, power generation plants and material handling; chemical facilities

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