Experimental and numerical investigation of laser-assisted electrodeposition based on amorphous forming: Laser-electrodeposition correlation and explanation of enhancing mechanism

Abstract

In this study, the laser parameters including laser power, scanning rate, scanning line distance, pulse width, frequency, and scanning area were used as the influencing factors, and the temperature, current density, and force impact effect were used as the response indexes to discuss the correlation between laser irradiation and electrochemical deposition (ECD) amorphous-forming process. The results show that in the preparation area ranges of 5 × 5, 10 × 10, and 20 × 20 mm, the laser power, scanning rate, and scanning line distance are the most significant parameters affecting the ECD process performance. The laser power affects the rising range and vibration amplitude of the current density, whereas the scanning rate and line distance influence the rising range, vibration amplitude, and variation period. The current density and force signal change periodically and stably over the suitable processing range. Compared with ECD NiP coating, the comprehensive performance of the coating prepared by the representative parameters selected according to the optimized parameter range are better. This study can provide ideas for the parameter optimization of the laser-enhanced ECD for different materials and processing sizes. In the future work, the influence of laser parameters on the ECD reduction process from a microscopic perspective will be discussed for establishing the correlation between laser parameters and coating performance. Moreover, the periodic current waveform formed by the laser is expected to prepare multilayer gradient structures with alternating grain sizes.