Laser peen forming (LPF) is a purely mechanical forming method achieved through the use of laser energy to form complex shapes or to modify curvatures. It is flexible and independent of tool inaccuracies that result from wear and deflection. Its nonthermal process makes it possible to form without material degradation or even improve them by inducing compressive stress over the target surface. In the present study, a fully three-dimensional numerical model is developed to simulate the forming process of laser peen forming. The simulation procedure is composed of several steps mainly including the shock pressure prediction, the modal analysis, and the forming process calculation. System critical damping is introduced to prevent unnecessary long post-shock residual oscillations and to greatly decrease the solution time for simulation. The bending profiles and angles with different thicknesses are experimentally measured at different scanning lines and scanning velocities to understand the process and validate the numerical model. The calculated bending profiles and angles agree well with the trend of the measured results. But it is found that simulations with the Johnson–Cook model are more consistent, matching the experimental results for the thick sheet metal with a convex bending, while the elastic-perfectly-plastic model produces a better agreement even though with underestimated values for the thinner sheet metal with a concave bending. The reason for this phenomenon is discussed, combining the effects of strain rate and feature size. Both the simulation and the experiments show that a continuous decrease in bending angle from concave to convex is observed with increasing specimen thickness in general. Large bending distortion is easier to induce by generating a concave curvature with LPF, and the angle of bending distortion depends on the number of laser shocks.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) microfluidic system, which enables rapid detection of chemical and biological analytes, offers an effective platform to monitor various food contaminants and disease diagnoses. The efficacy of SERS microfluidic systems is greatly dependent on the sensitivity and reusability of SERS detection substrates to ensure repeated use for prolonged periods. This study proposed a novel process of femtosecond laser nanoparticle array (NPA) implantation to achieve homogeneous forward transfer of gold NPA on a flexible polymer film and accurately integrated it within microfluidic chips for SERS detection. The implanted Au-NPA strips show a remarkable electromagnetic field enhancement with the factor of 9 × 10⁸ during SERS detection of malachite green (MG) solution, achieving a detection limit lower than 10 ppt, far better than most laser-prepared SERS substrates. Furthermore, Au-NPA strips show excellent reusability after several physical and chemical cleaning, because of the robust embedment of laser-implanted NPA in flexible substrates. To demonstrate the performance of Au-NPA, a SERS microfluidic system is built to monitor the online oxidation reaction between MG/NaClO reactants, which helps infer the reaction path. The proposed method of nanoparticle implantation is more effective than the direct laser structuring technique. It provides better performance for SERS detection, robustness of detection, and substrate flexibility and has a wider range of applications for microfluidic systems without any negative impact.

The modeling of laser-induced forward transfer process (LIFT) is helpful to understand and optimize its complex transfer process. In this work, a coupling model is developed to investigate the dynamic response of a thin polymer layer used as the release layer in the blister-actuated LIFT. In this model, the vapor pressure generated by nanosecond laser irradiation is computed through coupling with the transient vapor volume obtained from different step durations to simulate the dynamic blister formation. And the model is validated by experiments on polyimide film irradiated with different laser fluences, which is found to be capable of providing a consistent prediction of blister profiles under several laser conditions. The calibrated energy conversion ratios imply that laser pulse energy is mainly allocated for the heating and vaporizing of polymers, but increasing laser fluence can make this expense gradually saturated to allow more pulse energy to increase the vapor pressure. Transient pressure development from the coupling model is observed to increase rapidly within the pulse duration, but then to decrease because of vapor expansion. Forward velocity in axial direction is also observed to increase with laser fluence. The maximum velocity is possible to exceed the sound velocity under a high laser fluence. And the thin polymer layer is more preferred to obtain a high transfer velocity.