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| Laser Materials Processing Division |
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Laser Surface Treatment for Industrial Applications
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Laser Shock Peening (LSP) of Spring Steel for Automotive Applications
- The study was taken up to evaluate LSP process for automobile components (particularly leaf springs) as a possible alternative to existing shot peening practice.
- Enhanced fatigue resistance of laser peened components would help in designing the components with reduced cross-section, thereby translating into reduced packaging space & weight reduction for higher fuel efficiency.
Highlights:
- LSP introduced ~ 370 µm thick compressed layer with surface stress of -300 to -450 MPa, without adversely affecting mean surface roughness.
- Laser peened specimens exhibited more than five times increase in fatigue life over conventionally shot peened specimens (Fig.1).
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Fig.1: Comparison of fatigue lives of untreated, shot peened & laser peened SAE 9260 spring steel specimens. |
Fig.2: Laser shock peening of automobile leaf spring. |
Publication: P. Ganesh et al., Optics & Lasers in Engineering, 50, 2012, 678-686.
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