It’s the late 1990s. Lloyd Hackel and Brent Dane are researchers in LLNL’s Laser Science and Technology program.
They are developing laser technology for X-ray lithography and satellite imaging research for the Department of Defense when the phone rings. Online, Curtiss-Wright’s Metal Improvement Company (MIC) is asking questions about a topic Hackel and Dane have never worked on before: high peak power laser peening for commercial applications in manufacturing.
This is an example of how LLNL’s mission-driven work to advance national security can lead to commercially significant technology impacts through the laboratory’s activities. Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO).
Even though laser peening had been around since the 1970s, the lasers available for the process could not produce the pulse repetition rate needed for the application the company had in mind. For this, they needed a laser with high peak power and capable of emitting several pulses per second.
Since Hackel and Dane had developed this type of laser for LLNL’s mission-driven work, the question was: Could it be applied to commercial laser peening?
“There were challenges,” Hackel said, “but because of (LLNL’s) expertise, we knew how to address them.”
By leveraging LLNL’s scientific expertise in laser technology and high-pressure pulse physics, Hackel and Dane had the right technology, people, experiences and facilities to create something truly transformative.
And that’s exactly what they did, working through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to apply and commercialize the process with MIC using LLNL’s intellectual property via an IPO.
“The technology being developed at LLNL is cutting edge, and so I think the interaction between the lab and industry is important to understanding what technologies being developed could be applied to solve critical problems,” he said. Hackel said. “The laser we developed – 20 joules in 20 nanoseconds, with a capacity to pulse five times per second – is equivalent to the equivalent power output of a nuclear power plant during those 20 nanoseconds. So basically it was the ideal solution for commercial laser peening and it became a major breakthrough.
Laser peening is a surface enhancement process that uses high-energy laser pulses to create pressure waves that compress deep into materials. When a laser beam hits the surface of a metal, it vaporizes a thin layer, generating plasma. With a thin layer of water confining this expansion, intense pressure builds and penetrates the component, compressing the material much deeper than other shot blasting processes. Compressive stresses improve the fatigue resistance and durability of the component.
For thick-section components, such as the roots of jet engine fan blades, the technology developed by LLNL uniquely stopped the propagation of cracks that caused commercial aircraft blades to fail. For wing panels of large aircraft, including the President’s new Air Force One, this laser peening has been used to deform and form the curvatures of the wing panels.
“The first major application was for the large fan blades you see when you board an airplane,” Hackel said. “These blades were failing in just two years. Since Curtiss-Wright MIC started laser engraving blades 22 years ago, I don’t believe any of them have failed.
To further push their technology into an industrial context, Hackel and Dane left LLNL to join the MIC regional R&D center in Livermore in 2003 and continued to innovate. Hackel, for example, has been the company’s vice president of advanced technologies for more than 20 years. Over time, they have applied this unique approach to laser hammering to:
- significantly reduce maintenance costs and improve the safety of jet engines,
- improve the reliability and energy efficiency of gas and steam turbine blades for electricity production,
- extend the crack-free service life of the most important military combat aircraft,
- prevent stress corrosion cracking of spent fuel storage containers for nuclear power plants,
- and significantly slow down hydrogen-induced metal cracking to delay cracking of tanks and components, and thus improve hydrogen storage capabilities.
Due to the impact that Hackel and Dane’s technological and entrepreneurial journeys have had on various industries, they have been inducted into IPOs. Entrepreneur Hall of Famewhich highlights LLNL’s greatest commercial successes of all time.
The IPO is the focal point of LLNL’s engagement with industry and strives to commercialize scientific advances by transferring LLNL technology to the private sector through licensing and partnerships.
“Some applications take a decade or more to go from the time you understand, and even solve, the problem to acceptance for deployment, so you have to be patient,” Hackel said. “It will just take time for people to adopt the new technology. “I view the National Laboratories as one of the places that leads the world in terms of advanced technologies that create the next generation of components that advance our lives and the lives of our children.”
More information:
“Lasers, photonics and powerful partnerships” NIF and photons scientific news, April 30, 2018
“Former LLNL scientist recognized for contribution to laser hammering” NIF and photons scientific news, December 31, 2014
“Laser researchers are revolutionizing the aeronautics industry” LLNL News, April 4, 2014
“Laser peening induces deep compressive stress, which significantly extends service life compared to any conventional processing. » LLNL News, January 22, 2004
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