Laser shock peening coating with entrapped confinement medium

An integrated laser shock peening coating includes film or a tape having an ablative medium layer spaced apart from a clear containment layer and a stationary clear liquid confining medium therebetween wherein the clear transparent to a laser beam used for laser shock peening. Two examples of the clear liquid confining medium are water and a mixture of water and agar without flowing a confinement curtain of fluid over the surface upon which the laser beam is firing. The intergrated laser shock peening coating may be a tape with an adesive layer being disposed on a first side ablative medium layer. A method of laser shock peening includes coating a substrate of an article with the intergrated laser shock peening coating and firing a laser beam on the coated substrate with sufficient power to form a region having deep compressive residual stresses extending into the substrate.