FLAME - Research project

Irradiation by ultrafast laser pulses is often used for surface nanotexturing with a limited impact on the material itself. It is known that there exists a specific window of process parameters leading to interesting subsurface microstructures and mechanical properties -i.e. hardness, residual stress- that may positively influence the life time of engineering components subjected to such treatments. The FLAME project aims to explore the mechanical consequences of laser impact in the ultrafast regime with varying process conditions on a series of metals with a large variety of physical properties and the understanding of the results by numerical simulation of the laser-matter interaction process. Finally, the influence of residual stresses on the fatigue life time of laser treated specimens will be assessed.