Surface Cleaning of a Titanium Alloy Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses
N. Maharjan, W. Zhou, H. Zheng, Y. Zhou and N. Wu
This paper reports the results of investigation into the feasibility of using femtosecond laser for surface cleaning of commercial Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Trials were performed using Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser of 130 fs pulse width, 790 nm wavelength, and 1000 Hz repetition rate. The laser treated surfaces were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and surface profilometry. The surface contaminants and oxides were removed effectively after the laser treatment, and a low surface roughness of value lower than 1 μm was achieved. Potential damage to the substrate was avoided by using a defocused laser beam and careful control of laser fluence.
Keywords: Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser, titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-4V, laser surface cleaning, oxides removal, surface roughness