text: The shockwave generated coldwork (plastic strain) in the workpiece material creates compressive and tensile residual stresses to maintain an equilibrium state of the material. These residual stresses are compressive at the workpiece surface and gradually fade into low tensile stresses below and surrounding the laser peened area. The cold work also work hardens the surface layer. The compressive residual stresses, and to a lesser extent, the cold work, from laser peening have been shown to prevent and mitigate high cycle fatigue (HCF), low cycle fatigue (LCF), stress corrosion cracking, fretting fatigue, and, to some degree, wear and corrosion pitting. It is outstanding at mitigating foreign object damage in turbine blades.
  The plastic strain introduced by laser peening is much lower than that introduced by other impact peening technologies. As a result, the residual plastic strain has much greater thermal stability than the more heavily cold worked microstructures. This enables the laser peened compressive stresses to be retained at higher operating temperatures during long exposures than is the case for the other technologies. Among the applications benefiting from this are gas turbine fan and compressor blades and nuclear plant components.
  By enhancing material performance, laser peening enables more-efficient designs that reduce weight, extend component lifetimes, and increase performance. In the future, it is anticipated that laser peening will be incorporated into the design of fatigue critical components to achieve longer life, lighter weight, and perhaps a simpler design to manufacture.