A technique to decrease surface roughness in overlapping laser shock peening

[Display omitted] •An elastic contact metal foil was covered on the workpiece in laser shock peening.•Surface roughness was effectively decreased in overlapping laser shock peening.•Compressive residual stress was achieved with this method. A technique called elastic contact laser shock peening (ECLSP) is presented in this paper. In this technique, a metal foil with high dynamic yield strength is fixed between absorbing layer and workpiece, and the peak pressure of laser shock wave is a little less than the dynamic yield strength of metal foil, but higher than the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (HEL) of work piece. Surface roughness, microhardness and residual stress are investigated. Compared with regular laser shock peening (LSP), ECLSP can reduce the depth and area of secondary plastic deformation of overlapping region. This can effectively reduce surface roughness in overlapping LSP. Measurement of microhardness and residual stress shows that the work hardening effects and strengthening effect are similar as regular LSP.