Patrice Peyre

Physics and applications of laser-shock processing

The first part of this article presents a review of the main process parameters controlling pressure generation in a confined mode. The effect of laser intensity, target material, laser pulse duration, and laser wavelength are, therefore, discussed. An optimized process can then be defined. The second part of this article deals with the surface modifications induced by laser-shock processing. The generation of residual compressive stresses is then highlighted. Finally, in the third part, the interest of laser-shock processing is discussed for several typical applications. A conclusion will present the future trends of this technique.

Laser shock processing of materials, physical processes involved and examples of applications

Laser shock processing (LSP) consists of irradiating a metallic target with a short (about 20 ns) and intense (>1013W m−2) laser light in order to generate, through a high pressure surface plasma (>1 GPa), a plastic deformation and a surface strengthening within materials. This paper initially reviews the physical processes involved in the analytical modeling of the generation pressure mechanism in a confined plasma regime. Limiting factors such as the dielectric breakdown in the confining medium are also discussed together with current research directions aimed at improving the laser—material coupling such as using short rise time pulses instead of Gaussian ones or shorter wavelengths than the traditional λ = 1.06 μm. Surface mechanical effects are also theoretically and experimentally presented. They consist mainly of compressive residual stresses generated in the first 1–2 mm of depth that are the key to enhanced mechanical properties. The application of LSP to two new areas is presented. These areas a...

Steel to aluminium braze welding by laser process with Al–12Si filler wire

Abstract The joining of DC04 steel to 6016-T4 Al alloy is achieved by laser braze welding using a 4047 (Al–12Si) filler wire and a brazing flux. The dissimilar joining is obtained both by welding the parent 6016 alloy to the 4047 filler wire, producing a continuous bonding without apparent macroscopic flaws, and by reactive wetting of the molten Al alloy on the solid steel, resulting in the formation of a thin layer of Fe–Al–Si intermetallic compounds at the steel/bead interface. The linear strength of the assemblies can be as high as 190 N mm−1, with a failure generally located in the reaction layer of the steel/bead interface. Last, the strength of the assemblies is shown to increase linearly with the reaction layer width.

Effect of controlled shot peening and laser shock peening on the fatigue performance of 2024-T351 aluminum alloy

The influence of shot peening, laser shock peening, and dual (shot and laser peening) treatment on the fatigue behavior of 2024-T351 was investigated. Tests showed a fatigue life improvement in all three cases with laser shock peening and dual treatment displaying fatigue performance superior to shot peening. Fractographic analysis showed that the relatively poor performance of the shot peening is caused by ductility loss.

2D longitudinal modeling of heat transfer and fluid flow during multilayered direct laser metal deposition process

Derived from laser cladding, the direct laser metal deposition (DLMD) process is based upon a laser beam–powder–melt pool interaction and enables the manufacturing of complex 3D shapes much faster than conventional processes. However, the surface finish remains critical, and DLMD parts usually necessitate postmachining steps. Within this context, the focus of our work is to improve the understanding of the phenomena responsible for deleterious surface finish by using numerical simulation. Mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations are solved using comsol multiphysics® in a 2D transient model including filler material with surface tension and thermocapillary effects at the free surface. The dynamic shape of the molten zone is explicitly described by a moving mesh based on an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method (ALE). This model is used to analyze the influence of the process parameters, such as laser power, scanning speed, and powder feed rate on the melt pool behavior. The simulations of a single layer and multilayer claddings are presented. The numerical results are compared with experimental data, in terms of layer height, melt pool length, and depth of penetration, obtained from high speed camera. The experiments are carried out on a widely used aeronautical alloy (Ti–6Al–4 V) using a Nd:YAG laser. The results show that the dilution ratio increases with increasing the laser power and the scanning velocity or with decreasing the powder feed rate. The final surface finish is then improved.

Laser Patterning Pretreatment before Thermal Spraying: A Technique to Adapt and Control the Surface Topography to Thermomechanical Loading and Materials

Coating characteristics are highly dependent on substrate preparation and spray parameters. Hence, the surface must be adapted mechanically and physicochemically to favor coating–substrate adhesion. Conventional surface preparation methods such as grit blasting are limited by surface embrittlement and produce large plastic deformations throughout the surface, resulting in compressive stress and potential cracks. Among all such methods, laser patterning is suitable to prepare the surface of sensitive materials. No embedded grit particles can be observed, and high-quality coatings are obtained. Finally, laser surface patterning adapts the impacted surface, creating large anchoring area. Optimized surface topographies can then be elaborated according to the material as well as the application. The objective of this study is to compare the adhesive bond strength between two surface preparation methods, namely grit blasting and laser surface patterning, for two material couples used in aerospace applications: 2017 aluminum alloy and AISI 304L stainless steel coated with NiAl and YSZ, respectively. Laser patterning significantly increases adherence values for similar contact area due to mixed-mode (cohesive and adhesive) failure. The coating is locked in the pattern.

Laser-matter interaction in laser shock processing

Laser shock processing (LSP) is an emerging industrial process in the field of surface treatment with particular application to the improvement of fatigue and corrosion properties. In the standard configuration, the metal sample is coated with a sacrificial layer in order to protect it from detrimental thermal effects, and a water overlay is used to improve the mechanical coupling by a confining like effect. Whereas the induced mechanical effects are now well understood, very few studies have been realized concerning the thermal effects. For this purpose, the knowledge of the confined plasma microscopic parameters has a great importance. A complete model describing the laser-liquid-metal interaction is presented. The model predicts the time evolution of the plasma parmmeters (temperature, density, ionization) and allows us to compute the induced pressure and temperature in the metal sample. By comparing the numerical results with various experimental measurements, predictions can be made concerning the best laser irradiation conditions for LSP.

Modifications of mechanical and electrochemical properties of stainless steel surfaces by laser shock processing

Laser Shock Processing (LSP) consists on focusing a high energy pulsed laser beam on metals to create shock waves and thereby, generate compressive stresses. These stress are similar to those of conventional mechanical treatments like short peening. Nevertheless, at LSP the affected depths are greater and the surfaces keep their roughness and hardness. The present study compare the effects of LSP on the surface mechanical properties of two stainless steels: an austenitic (AISI 316L) and a martensitic (Z12 CNDV 12.02). The surface effects are characterized in terms of microstructure, hardening and residual stress levels (measured by X-ray diffraction technique). The effects of LSP on the pitting corrosion resistance of the martensitic stainless steel in a NaCl 0.01 M + Na2SO4 0.01 M solution are presented. Electrochemical tests were carried out by using open circuit and polarization techniques, to determine electrochemical parameters (free and pitting potentials, passive current densities). Laser-induced work-hardening effects were shown to be more important in the case of 316 L for which they strongly depend on the impacts repetition and the laser power density. Significant modifications on localized corrosion properties were noticed for each treatment condition (8 GW/cm2 - 20 ns pulses and 40 GW/cm2 - 2,3 ns pulses) i.e. pitting potentials were not modified but free potentials were shifted to anodic values and passive current densities reduced.

Analysis of laser–melt pool–powder bed interaction during the selective laser melting of a stainless steel

The laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) or powder-bed additive layer manufacturing process is now recognized as a high-potential manufacturing process for complex metallic parts. However, many technical issues are still to overcome for making LPBF a fully viable manufacturing process. This is the case of surface finish and the systematic occurrence of porosities, which require postmachining steps. Up till now, the porosity origin remains unclear but is expected to be related to the stability of the process. As a LPBF part is made by the accumulation of hundreds of meters of small weld beads, it also appears to be important to understand all the phenomena that occur during the laser-powder-melt pool (MP) interaction for each single track. For this reason, in the first part of our study, using an instrumented LPBF setup and a fast camera analysis (>10 000 image/s), single tracks were fabricated and analyzed in real time and postmortem. Spatters ejections and powder denudation phenomena were observed together wit...

Laser adhesion test for thermal sprayed coatings on textured surface by laser

The laser shock adhesion test (LASAT) is a technique allowing the generation of high tensile stresses in materials. The LASAT consists in focusing a pulsed laser beam on a water-confined target. The laser pulse crosses the water transparent layer and is absorbed by the target. High energetic plasma is created at the surface of the sample. As a response to the expansion of the plasma, a shock wave is generated and propagates through the sample. This shock wave leads to the generation of high tensile stresses in the sample. These stresses allow the interface solicitation in order to evaluate the dynamic adhesive bond strength of coated systems. In order to determine interface strengths, this technique has already proven its feasibility. In this paper, the adhesion strength of coated system was evaluated using LASAT for two surface pretreatments of substrates obtained by grit-blasting and laser surface texturing techniques. The generation of the high-intensity shock wave by laser plasma in the water-confinem...