It's the late 1990s. Lloyd Hackel and Brent Dane are researchers in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) laser science and technology program.
They're developing laser technology for X-ray lithography and satellite imaging research for the Department of Defense when the phone rings. On the line is Curtiss-Wright's Metal Improvement Company (MIC) asking about something Hackel and Dane haven't worked on before: high-peak-power laser peening for commercial applications in manufacturing.
This is an example of how LLNL's mission-focused work advancing national security can lead to technology spin-offs with commercial importance through the Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO).
Although laser peening had existed 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 the ability to pulse multiple times per second. Because Hackel and Dane had developed that type of laser for LLNL's mission-focused work, the question became: could it be applied to commercial laser peening?
"There were challenges," Hackel said, "but because of the expertise at [LLNL], we knew how to handle them."
By leveraging LLNL's scientific expertise in laser technology and the physics of high-pressure pulses, Hackel and Dane had the right technology, people, experiences and facilities to create something truly transformative. And that's exactly what they did, by working via a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to apply and commercialize the process with MIC using LLNL's intellectual property through IPO.
"Technology developed at [LLNL] is at the cutting edge of where things will be, and so I think the interaction between the Laboratory and industry is important for understanding which technologies being developed could be applied to solve critical problems," Hackel said. "The laser we developed - 20 joules in 20 nanoseconds, with ability to pulse five times per second - is the equivalent output power of a nuclear power plant in those 20 nanoseconds. So basically, it was the needed match for commercial laser peening, and became a major step forward."
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 strikes the surface of a metal, it vaporizes a thin layer, generating a plasma. With a thin layer of water confining that expansion, an intense pressure forms and penetrates the component -compressing the material much deeper than other peening processes. The compressive stresses enhance fatigue resistance and durability of the component.
For thick section components, like the roots of jet engine fan blades, the LLNL-developed technology uniquely stopped crack propagation that had been failing the blades on commercial aircraft. For wing panels of wide-bodied aircraft, including the President's new Air Force One, this laser peening was used to strain and form the wing-panel curvatures.
"The first major application was for the large fan blades that you see when you board an aircraft," Hackel said. "Those blades were failing in as little as two years. Since Curtiss-Wright's MIC started laser peening the blades 22 years ago, I believe not a single one has failed."
To push their technology further in an industry setting, Hackel and Dane left LLNL to join the MIC regional R&D center in Livermore in 2003 - and kept on innovating. Hackel, for instance, has been vice president for advanced technologies at the company for more than 20 years. Over that time, they've applied this unique approach to laser peening as a way to:
- greatly reduce maintenance costs and enhance safety for jet engines;
- improve the reliability and fuel efficiency of gas and steam turbine blades for electrical generation;
- provide crack-free life extension to the most significant military fighter jets;
- prevent stress corrosion cracking of spent fuel storage canisters for nuclear power plants;
- and dramatically slow hydrogen-driven cracking of metals to delay tank and component cracking, and thereby aid hydrogen storage capabilities.
Because of the impact that Hackel and Dane's technology and entrepreneurial journeys have had on various industries, they were inducted into IPO's Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame, which highlights LLNL's top commercialization successes of all time.
IPO is the focal point for LLNL's engagement with industry and works to bring scientific breakthroughs to market by transferring LLNL technology to the private sector through licensing and partnerships.
"Some of the applications take a decade or more to go from where you first understand, and even solve, the problem to actually gaining acceptance to deploy it, so you have to be patient. It's just going to take time for people to adopt the new technology," Hackel said. "I see the national labs as one of the places that lead the world in terms of advanced technologies that create the next generation of components that advance our lives, and the lives of our children."
For more, watch the YouTube video.
-Melissa Lewelling
