Effect of Laser Shock Peening on surface properties and residual stress of Al6061-T6

• LSP can induce new grain boundaries to the near surface region of Al 6061-T6.
• The Residual stress is different in each direction of the applied scanning pattern
• LSP scanning pattern affects the hardness improvement of the method
• LSP deteriorates surface quality according to the LSP parameters

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Laser Shock Peening (LSP) on Al 6061-T6. The confined LSP regime using Nd: YAG laser with 1200 mJ of energy per pulse and 8 ns of pulse width were applied. The treated specimens were evaluated by means of surface integrity with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, microhardness, surface roughness and induced residual stress using an X-ray diffraction method. Results showed that by the use of LSP, compressive residual stress could effectively be induced on the surface of treated material. It was also revealed that the hardened depth of the material, up to a maximum depth of 1875 μm, could be achieved due to work hardening and grain refinement. In addition, surface roughness measurements showed that the LSP could deteriorate surface quality depending on the LSP parameters. The influences of beam overlap rates, number of laser shots and scanning pattern on microhardness as well as surface roughness are discussed.