Patent ID: 8207474
Filing Date: 2012-06-26
Classification: C21D,H01S

Abstract:
1. A method for laser shock peening surfaces of work pieces, comprising: producing a sequence of seed pulses having a single wavelength using a laser oscillator, including an output coupler comprising a polarizing beam splitter and a polarization rotation element in the cavity, including using the polarization rotation element to change the reflectivity of the output coupler in response to build up of a relaxation oscillation pulse, and to output the seed pulses, the seed pulses having an amplitude that varies less than 1% over at least one million pulses of sequential operation in a production environment and having a pulse width that varies less than 1% over at least one million pulses of sequential operation in a production environment; supplying the sequence of seed pulses to a laser amplifier to induce a sequence of higher energy output pulses having said single frequency and having an energy per pulse in a range from about 10 to about 100 joules per pulse; and positioning said work pieces in cooperation with said output pulses to peen target regions on said surfaces.