To investigate the influence of shot peening (SP) on very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) performance of 2024-T351, the specimens with three surface conditions were performed under ultrasonic fatigue tests: mechanicallypolished without peening (NP), ceramic shot peening (SP1), steel and glass
mixed shot peening (SP2). The roughness, microhardness, residual stress, fractography measurement and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied before fatigue test to characterize the effective layer induced by the peening treatment. For the failed specimens, the fracture surface were
analysed using SEM to study the mechanisms of fatigue crack propagation. In addition, the fatigue life curve in ultra-high cycle region continuously decreased in the three series of specimens. However, the experimental results revealed that fatigue strength improvement resulting from shot
peening treatment was negligible in very high cycle regime. Furthermore, the stress intensity factor for the surface crack initiation (SCI) and interior crack initiation (ICI) was discussed based on quantitative analysis on the fracture surface. The average values of ΔKfish-eye
for NP, SP1 and SP2 specimens are about 2.22, 1.48 and 1.61 MPa · m1/2, respectively.