<title>Surface treatment of metals with excimer and CO2 lasers</title>

Abstract

The availability of a variety of lasers including the high-power cw CO<SUB>2</SUB> lasers, the pulsed- mode infrared Nd-YAG, and the pulsed-mode ultraviolet excimer laser has led to the development of many interesting applications of laser technology to materials processing. Among them the surface modification of metallic alloys appears to be one of the most important and very close to implementation in various industries. Specifically the applications of excimer lasers have been discussed in a recent workshop in the framework of the Eureka EU 205 program. The major topics concerned with surface modifications that were discussed in this workshop were surface smoothing and roughening, surface cleaning of Ti and Cu, mixing and interdiffusion of predeposited layers, surface irradiation of Cu-alloys to improve the corrosion resistance, surface remelting of Al-alloys for grain refinement through rapid solidification, and surface remelting of Ni-P electroless coatings on Al alloys for the improvement of corrosion resistance. Laser alloying of Ni-base superalloys has also been discussed. Applications discussed here include the surface treatment of Ni-base superalloys with high-power CO<SUB>2</SUB> laser, the surface treatment of aluminum alloys with excimer lasers, the laser assisted chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) of wear and corrosion resistant layers of Ti, TiC, and TiN on tool steels, and the fracture surface sulphur printing with excimer lasers.