Laser Shock Peening to Repair, Design and Manufacture Current and Future Aircraft Structures by Residual Stress Engineering

Abstract

This paper will provide an overview on potential applications for the aerospace industry for repairing aircraft as well as to ensure salvage for identified hot spots in terms of fatigue and crack growth performance. Residual stress engineering is a field of engineering aiming to improve the economic and ecological impact of future aircraft structures by controlling the residual stresses induced by Laser Shock Peening (LSP). Managing the residual stresses for designing structures represents an innovative approach for next generation aircraft. Predicting crack turning induced via a LSP treatment and the optimization of the LSP treatment itself for reaching the crack growth design stress for the targeted weight benefit will be discussed. Advanced forming processes in aircraft manufacturing represent another potential area of interest and the benefits and challenges of applying laser peen forming in this context will be presented. The aeronautical industry requirements for future developments of the laser shock process will also be included for applications ranging from the repair environment to design and manufacturing of aircraft structures.