• The study was taken up to evaluate LSP process for automobile components (particularly leaf springs) as a possible alternative to existing shot peening practice.
• Enhanced fatigue resistance of laser peened components would help in designing the components with reduced cross-section, thereby translating into reduced packaging space & weight reduction for higher fuel efficiency.

Highlights:

• LSP introduced ~ 370 µm thick compressed layer with surface stress of -300 to -450 MPa, without adversely affecting mean surface roughness. 
• Laser peened specimens exhibited more than five times increase in fatigue life over conventionally shot peened specimens (Fig.1).