A visit to STFC/RAL Central Laser Facility for undertaking Laser Shock Peening Experiments!

It was great to have spent some time at STFC, Rutherford and Appleton Laboratory at the Central Laser Facility (in the first two weeks of June 2018) to undertake Laser Shock peening experiments with Xiaojun Shen (Coventry University) and various research scientists.

The motivation of the work was to explore effect of the laser peening system developed by STFC on both metal alloy (Titanium in particular) and a ceramic material system.

The experiments involved looking at the effects of square pulses and its profiles on the residual stress state and mechanical properties of the aforementioned materials. The results are currently being analysed to not only elucidate the onset of LSP on the properties of these materials, but also being further optimised.

Many thanks to Klaus Ertel and Prof. Ric Allott for organising this time as well as Jonathan Phillips, Jodie Smith and Saumyabrata Banerjee for taking the time out to assist with experimentation.

Undertaking LSP experiments at the Central Laser Facility in RAL at STFC.