Title: Surface properties of a laser-irradiated Al 6061 alloy

Authors: Georgios S.E. Antipas; Eleftherios Statharas

Addresses: School of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, Athens 15780, Greece ' School of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, Athens 15780, Greece

Abstract: The surface of Al 6061 alloy samples was irradiated with a pulsed KrF excimer laser at ambient conditions. The effect of irradiation on mechanical and electrochemical properties of the material was studied as a function of laser beam pulse width, power density and irradiation frequency. The results indicated that the structural properties of the alloy were improved by increasing the laser energy density of the ablating laser. The surface roughness of the alloy increased with the increasing laser energy density up to the point of plasma detachment from the sample surface, at approximately 200 MW/cm²; further energy increase lead to a reduction of surface roughness due to the smoothing effect of excess molten material on the irradiated profile. Both the optical bang gap and the electrical resistivity of the film were significantly affected by the laser energy density.

Keywords: Al 6061 alloy; KrF excimer lasers; Mg2Si; magnesium silicide; surface treatment; microhardness; corrosion; aluminium alloys; pulse width; power density; irradiation frequency; surface roughness; surface quality; optical bang gap; electrical resistivity; laser energy density.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCMSSE.2014.063755

International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, 2014 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 12

Received: 22 Jun 2013
Accepted: 06 Nov 2013
Published online: 30 Jul 2014 *

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