Laser shock processing (LSP) is a newly developed surface treatment to provide residual stress fields in metallic materials usin laser-induced high pressure surface plasmas. First of all, it is shown in this paper that most of the physical and mechanical aspects of LSP have been investigated recently for different process configurations, resulting in a good global understanding of the phenomena involved. By having a short overview on many recent studies involving LSP, some general features could be drawn about the ability of the process to harden and strengthen metallic materials. Particular attention was given to the residual stress fields induced on several industrial metals. Lastly, fatigue applications on different Aluminum alloys and steels are presented which confirm the beneficial effects of such a process.
展开▼
