LSP Technologies Sells Laser Peening System for Metal Fatigue Enhancement to Aeronautical Research Center
Laser peening provides service life extensions through enhanced fatigue strength and damage tolerance, along with resistance to corrosion, cracking, and fretting.
Posted: April 4, 2017
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LSP Technologies announces the sale of its state-of-the-art Procudo® Laser Peening System to the Center of Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) in Hamburg, Germany. The equipment will be delivered to the ZAL TechCenter facility in Hamburg during the 3rd quarter of 2017. Researchers at ZAL will use the laser peening system to study the surface enhancement applications of laser peening for their partners in the aviation industry.
“We are very excited about this new international partnership,” said Dr. Jeff Dulaney, President and CEO of LSP Technologies, Inc. “Laser peening is becoming the aviation industry standard for increasing fatigue strength and damage tolerance in titanium and steels, and LSPT’s Procudo® Laser Peening System is the most versatile machine available for component service life extension.”
LSP Technologies’ Procudo® 200 Laser Peening System is the only commercially available laser designed exclusively for laser peening. It employs a diode-pumped, pulsed YLF laser that produces a flattop spatial profile beam at a wavelength of 1053 nm. The system operates at selectable repetition rates up to 20 Hz, and emits a continuously-selectable 8-16 ns pulse, with energy adjustable up to 10 Joules per pulse. The system includes fully-developed controls and diagnostics specifically designed for laser peening, and it allows the user to optimize the laser peening process based on part and performance requirements. The Procudo® LSP System is easy to operate for research use and application development and the system is engineered for rapid integration into manufacturing operations.
Laser peening is a proven method for significantly increasing the fatigue life and fatigue strength of metals. The mechanical surface enhancement process utilizes a high-energy pulsed laser beam to impart compressive residual stress fields into metal alloys such as titanium or steel. Compressive residual stresses add strength and robustness to metal parts by improving their resistance to damage, fatigue, crack initiation and crack propagation. Laser peening can even be used to arrest the propagation of existing cracks in fielded components, leading to reduced maintenance and repair costs, longer time between inspection intervals, and significantly increased service lifetimes. Laser peening has been shown to impart beneficial stresses many times deeper than shot peening, leading to increased damage tolerance, reduced fatigue effects, and superior resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Laser peening is routinely applied to GE turbine engine blades, as well as turbofan blades in the Rolls Royce Trent series of engines. The process has been employed for years by major aerospace OEMs to improve turbine engine blade resistance to foreign object damage (FOD), fretting fatigue, and cracking.
“Laser peening is becoming the aviation industry standard for increasing fatigue strength and damage tolerance in titanium and steels.”
The Hamburg Center of Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) was established in 2009 as a technological research and development hub for the Hamburg Aviation Network. It is a public-private partnership that not only includes collaboration from some of the aviation industry’s largest organizations, such as Lufthansa and Airbus, but also suppliers, SME, universities, research institutions, start-ups and many more. The ZAL TechCenter opened in Hamburg in 2016, and the 95-million-euro facility immediately became one of the largest and most advanced aeronautical research facilities in the world.
LSP Technologies is the world’s premier laser peening services, technology and equipment provider. It is the only company in the world selling, installing, and integrating state-of-the-art laser peening systems into manufacturing and research facilities. The company has been providing laser peening production services for clients in the aviation and power generation industries for over twenty years, and has been awarded more than fifty patents for innovations in laser peening equipment and technology.
Contact LSPT to learn more about laser peening services and equipment.
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