High level compressive residual stresses produced in aluminum alloys by laser shock processing

Results using pulse densities of 2500 pulses/cm2 in 6061-T6 aluminum samples and 5000 pulses/cm2 in 2024 aluminum samples are presented. High level of compressive residual stresses are produced −1600 MPa for 6061-T6 Al alloy, and −1400 MPa for 2024 Al alloy. It has been shown that surface residual stress level is higher than that achieved by conventional shot peening and with greater depths. This method can be applied to surface treatment of final metal products.