Model based analysis of the effect of irradiation parameters on the plasma driven thermal fluxes in laser shock processing

This paper presents a simulation study of the phenomenology arising from plasma expansion between the confinement layer and the base material, which is specifically addressed as a clear factor that influences the subsequent thermo-mechanical behaviour of the treated specimens. Results based on the calculation model show that a number of process scaling laws have been obtained, which allow a predictive assessment of the thermal/mechanical effects induced in laser shock processing (LSP) treated component as a function of key process parameters such as laser intensity, interaction zone dimension, nature and thickness of confining medium, and overlapping pulse density. Hence, this enables the practical implementation of LSP as a profitable method for the enhancement of surface mechanical properties of metallic materials.