Date: Mar 13, 2015 Author: Press Release Source: Steam Feed (
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LSP Technologies (LSPT) began in 1995 as a supplier of laser shock peening (LSP) technology and equipment to General Electric Aviation in Cincinnati, Ohio. GE contracted LSPT to build three production laser peening systems for its in-house laser peening of military aerospace engine components for the F101 and F110 engines. This was the first ever sale of laser peening equipment and the very first production application of laser peening. From the beginning, LSPT also provided job shop laser peening applications on customer provided parts to introduce the new fatigue life extending technology to OEMs, manufactures, and end users. The company quickly grew from a few employees to more than 20.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s LSPT won and successfully completed several major Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards and ManTech contracts to expand its laser peening service capability. Two high-capacity laser peening systems and peening cells were built at LSPT's facility under these contracts to handle a variety of aerospace DoD components. In 2003, LSPT began production laser peening on Pratt & Whitney's F-119 4th stage IBR for the Air Force's F-22 Raptor.
LSPT has been a leader in the laser peening industry from its inception, sharing the technology of laser peening with GE Aviation and national labs across the country, as well as being awarded more than 50 patents on laser peening.
"The first several years of the company's business were focused on establishing the laser peening industry. Since 2003 our production laser peening business has been growing and has now processed more than 45,000 aerospace and power generation engine blades. Our quality is outstanding and our customer care is unparalleled," said Dr. Jeff Dulaney, President and CEO of LSP Technologies, Inc.
LSP Technologies also invented a method to inspect bondline strength in bonded structures, called Laser Bond Inspection (LBI), based on its laser peening lasers. The LBI inspection system was developed in association with The Boeing Company and it is the only method to non-destructively evaluate the strength of adhesively bonded structures in real time. LSP Technologies delivered its first Laser Bond Inspection system to Boeing in 2012. It is well on its way to becoming a mature technology for the inspection of adhesively bonded aerospace structures.
"Bonded joint manufacturers benefit from the LBI method because it enables manufacturers to locally determine adhesive bond strength during the manufacturing or repair process," said Dr. Dulaney.
LSPT is installing the Procudo™ laser peening system into its facility, and making the line of systems available for lease or purchase. OEMs and manufacturers can now get the fatigue and damage tolerance improvements of laser peening on their own manufacturing line or by sending parts to LSPT for application.
About Laser Peening Technology:
Laser peening imparts deep compressive residual stresses into the surface of parts in critical areas. Its benefits are primarily achieved as a result of the deep compressive residual stress' resistance to the initiation and growth of cracks in the material which significantly increases fatigue life and damage tolerance. The compressive residual stresses are introduced into the material as an effect of the shockwave mechanics of delivering high energy in a short pulse onto the surface of the component. Laser peening extends part service life by up to 20 times, preventing failures from high cycle fatigue, stress corrosion cracking, foreign object damage, fretting, and cavitation pitting.
About Laser Bond Inspection Technology:
Laser Bond Inspection creates a tensile stress wave in material that tests bondline interface to design strength, as well as detects kissing bonds, voids and other non-conformances in the bond construction.
