Laser Shock Peening and its Applications: A Review

In this paper Laser Shock Peening (LSP), as a surface treatment technique for metals and alloys is reviewed. A brief introduction covering LSP process, LSP on various materials and some innovative applications of LSP have been discussed. Critical laser parameters for LSP such as laser energy, pulse width, wavelength, overlap rate, role of sacrificial coating and transparent overlay are presented towards parameter optimization perspective. A small section has been devoted to detail the development of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser that was built in house, exclusively for the LSP applications. Role of LSP in improving the material properties such as fatigue, Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC), Inter Granular Corrosion (IGC) besides, rejuvenation of fatigue life of pre fatigued specimens and hybrid technique to rejuvenate the SCC damaged components are discussed. Further, results on oblique laser peening along with its successful application to the interior of cylindrical geometry specimens for improving the SCC resistance are also discussed. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.