On Wednesday, 26.5.2021, we had the pleasure to host our collaborators from the Technical University of Liberec and SIGMA a.s., with whom we are working on implementing Metal Additive Manufacturing technology for water pumps by applying the Laser Shock Peening.
Additive manufacturing brings a great advantage in flexibility; producing parts of almost any geometrical shape, and this advantage can be widely used in pump production. This flexibility often brings a cheaper end product. To improve the quality of the AM part, some post-process method is typically used, such as surface polishing, shot peening, thermal post-processing, etc. However, the method, technology, which has shown the best results as a post-process of AM is Laser Shock Peening (LSP). The reason for this is that LSP can make changes deep into the material. Applying the LSP as a post-process of AM makes AM advantages fully available for usage in the industrial environment.
At HiLASE Centre, together with our collaborators TUL and SIGMA, we are developing processes that enhance the properties of the AM pump blades, so in the end, AM can be used for such application. LSP helps in two ways; it improves the surface properties of the AM blade and improves the resistance to the cavitation erosion of the AM blade.
The project is funded by TACR under the NCC MATCA programme.
