Unification of the textures formed on aluminum after laser treatment

Abstract

Laser texturing of metals is a promising way to create surfaces with unique functional properties. The widespread implementation of this method into industry is hampered by the lack of theoretical basis to predict the change in their functional properties. We propose a procedure for the unification of textures formed on aluminum surfaces after nanosecond laser radiation texturing. Using amplitude and hybrid roughness parameters, as well as power spectrum density function, we conditionally divided formed textures into two groups. The first is anisotropic multimodal from nano- to micro-scale texture in three coordinate directions. The second group combines periodic texture with separate elements. The static contact angle grew more slowly in time on the first group surfaces after laser texturing but reached higher values. We found the relationship between the contact angle evolution, the location of the texture elements relative to each other and the elemental composition. The elemental composition of the second group of the texture is uneven over the surface, depends on the location of the texture elements formed after laser radiation. The results can be used for laser texturing of aluminum surfaces for predictive evaluation of wetting properties, changing them in time based on analysis of the created texture.