TREATMENT OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS SURFACE BY NANOSECOND LASER

Abstract

Aluminum and its alloys are widely used in our daily life because of their desirable physical properties. Improving the quality of Al-alloys surface layers is required for industrial applications. Nd: YAG pulsed Nanosecond Laser was used in irradiating aluminum 1100 alloy to study the surface morphology and hardness properties. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images reveal the presence of small holes with different diameters that are produced by the irradiation of Aluminum alloy surfaces with different laser power densities. The diameters of the produced holes are decreased gradually by increasing the laser power density. Minimum diameter of about 1.84[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m is obtained after irradiating the aluminum surface with 1256.04[Formula: see text]MW/cm2 at which semi-periodic holes-like pattern were produced. An increase in the Vickers microhardness values was obtained until the maximum value of 28 HV was reached at laser power density of 750.16[Formula: see text]MW/cm2. After reaching the maximum value, a fast decrease in the microhardness values was observed. Such changes in microhardness values maybe attributed to the lattice disorder and the change in the defect density produced by laser irradiation.