Shot peening is a common finishing procedure to improve the static and cyclic strength of metal components. Recent investigations showed that, under specific shot peening conditions, also in brittle ceramics high compressive stresses up to more than 1 GPa can be introduced near the surface which increase the near-surface strength. The presentation compiles the actual potential of the shot peening process for alumina and in detail for silicon nitride ceramics. The influence of shot peening parameters on the residual stress state, dislocation density, topography, static and cyclic and rolling near-surface strength is determined.
