Laser Shock Processing on Metal

Abstract

Since its invention in the late 1960s, and the pioneering work on metal strengthening in USA during the late 1970s, laser shock processing (LSP) has become a reliable surface treatment for improving the mechanical or corrosion resistance of metallic materials. Moreover, laser-induced shock waves can also be envisaged for the investigation of dense matter’s behavior—including phase transformations—under ultra-high strain rate loading (up to 107 s−1) using dedicated diagnostics (VISAR, etc.). This Special Issue on LSP aims at providing a rather exhaustive and up-to-date state of the art on LSP based upon the most recent research works. The following fields are covered in the seven selected papers: materials’ behavior and phase transformations under high strain rate (Amadou et al. [1]), new loading conditions with ultra-short pulses (Petronic et al. [2]) surface modifications induced by laser peening including recrystallization effects (Zhou et al. [3]) and warm laser peening (Huang et al. [4], Chen et al. [5]), and novel applications of LSP such as water droplet erosion resistance (Gujba et al. [6]) or impact spot welding (Liu et al. [7]). The wide variety of topics related to LSP highlights the extraordinary dynamism and enthusiasm of the growing international LSP community.