G. Dumitru

Laser treatment of tribological DLC films

The friction and wear reduction in applications that allow only a minimal use of liquid lubricants is done with solid lubricant films or with protective coatings, such as diamond-like carbon (DLC). Further improvements are possible if the geometries of the contact surfaces are modified in a controlled way, as we have already demonstrated it for TiN and TiCN. In this work, the possibilities to generate patterned DLC coated low wear tribological surfaces by means of laser processing were investigated. In the first approach, a two step method was used: steel substrates were laser patterned and subsequently DLC films were deposited on them. The second considered approach was the laser processing of coated surfaces. DLC films were irradiated with laser pulses of different durations and energy densities (100 fs, 800 nm, <4 J/cm2; 150 ns, 1064 nm, <10 J/cm2) and the treated spots were examined using optical microscopy, SEM, AFM and Raman spectroscopy. The graphitisation of a-C:H films under both fs- and ns- regimes was shown as well as a film-peeling phenomenon during the ablation process. Microstructured and DLC coated surfaces obtained in the former approach were used for preliminary tribological tests (oscillation-friction-wear method). The results showed that the friction coefficient did not increase, as compared with the unstructured and DLC coated surfaces, and that the structure pores trapped the debris particles produced when the DLC film eventually broke.

Femtosecond laser ablation of materials

Polycrystalline SiGe is attracting more and more attention in micro and optoelectronics devices both at industrial and university level. Research on both devices and material growth techniques continues at a very rapid pace in the scientific world. Low cost production techniques, capable to produce such alloys with uniform and controlled grain size, becomes of particular attention. Excimer laser crystallization has proved to be a valuable how thermal budget technique for amorphous silicon crystallization. Its main advantages are the high process quality and reproducibility joint to the possibility of tailoring the grain sizes both in small selected regions and in large areas. This technique is here applied for producing poly-SiGe alloys from amorphous SiGe films deposited on glass.

Effects of Laser Texturing on Technical Surfaces

Different laser beam techniques were applied to AISI M3 steel samples in order to produce well-defined surface microtextures consisting of pores, which can act as lubricant pockets (reservoir) as well as traps for wear debris. Both effects contribute to improve the tribological performance of textured functional surfaces. The tribological performance of lasertetxures was studied as function of the pore depth and diameter in unidirectional sliding tests under starved lubrication. The lasertetxured surfaces tested under those conditions were produced by a well-established ns laser technique using a Q switched Nd:YAG laser. The topographical microstructures of these laser-induced textures were characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopy as well as replica technique. A significant change in friction behavior as compared to untextured tool surfaces was observed when using microtextured surfaces. In another part of the study, the influence of new-developed fs laser technique of the tool steel was investigated. The fs laser texturing of the steel results in a change of the metallographic structure of the laser-affected zone, which is clearly detectable in cross-section samples. The structure of the material and chemical composition of the laser-affected, pore-near region was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy with combined EDX analysis. It could be shown that the laser-affected zone seems to consist of an amorphous or nanocrystalline material in opposite to the ‘macrocrystalline’ steel substrate. Nanoindentations revealed a two times higher hardness of the laser-affected zone than the steel bulk phase.

Laser microstructuring of surfaces for improving their tribological performance

The controlled laser microstructuring of solid surfaces improves their wear properties: microholes induced on a friction surface can act like lubricant reservoirs and as traps for debris particles. In generating such microstructures, the laser has the advantage of its great versatility, since it can be used in various environments and it can be adapted to a wide range of desired structures. In this work metallic surfaces where precisely and reproducibly patterned on a micrometer scale by an industrial, Q-switch-operated Nd:YAG laser. The duration of the pulses was 100 ns FWHM. For laser ablation in this pulse length range local melting and vaporing govern the mechanisms of materials expulsion and the melt ejection occurs through the vapor pressure gradient, yielding the formation of resolidified droplets and rims on the target surface.

Femtosecond ablation applied to deep-drilling of hard metals

Mechanisms responsible for the limitation of the aspect ratio obtained by deep drilling of hard metals are investigated in the present work. Cemented carbide targets have been irradiated with laser pulses of 100 fs duration and 100 μJ maximum energy delivered by a Ti:sapphire laser system. The experiments are carried out in different gas environments (vacuum, air, helium up to atmospheric pressure) with incident laser fluences ranging from 1 to 20 Jcm-2. During deep drilling, the laser-induced ablation plume is characterized by means of in-situ plasma diagnostics. Fast imaging is used to observe the expansion behavior of the plasma plume whereas time- and space-resolved emission spectroscopy is employed to analyze the plasma composition. After irradiation, the laser-produced craters were examined by optical microscopy. A correlation between the ablation plume characteristics and the morphological changes of the mciro-holes is established. The results indicate that nanoclusters, that present a significant part of the ablated material, are responsbile for the alteration of the crater shape in the high laser fluence regime.

Structure changes in steels and hard metal induced by nanosecond and femtosecond laser processing

Investigations on the occurrence of structure and hardness changes (for two sorts of steel and for a hard metal substrate) in the immediate vicinity of laser induced craters are presented in this work. Experiments with femtosecond pulses were performed in air with a Ti:sapphire laser (800 nm, 100 fs) at mean fluences of 2, 5 and 10 J/cm2. Series of microcraters were induced with 100 to 5,000 laser pulses per hole. Experiments with similar fluences, but 10 to 40 pules per hole, were performed on the same materials using a Nd:YAG delivering 100 ns pulese. After laser irradiation, cuts were made through the processed samples and the changes occurred in the crystalline structure of the target materials were evidenced by metallographical analysis of the resulting cross-sections. Hardness measurements were performed in points situated in the immediate vicinity of the laser-induced pores. Affected zones in the material surrounding laser induced pores were always found in the ns-regime, however with different properties for various laser parameters. In the fs-regime, zones of modified materials were also found and in such zones a significant hardness increasing was evidenced; the limit of the low fluences regime, where no structure changes occurred, was found to be slightly above 2 J/cm2.

Precise microstructuring of metallic surfaces to improve wear properties

Summary form only given. Through controlled laser microstructuring of solid surfaces, the wear properties of solid surfaces can be improved: microholes induced on a friction surface can act like lubricant reservoirs and as traps for debris particles, ameliorating both friction and wear behaviours. In generating such microstructures, the laser has the advantage of its great versatility. Since it can be used in various environments and it can be adapted to a wide range of desired structures. In this work the laser beam coming from an industrial, flash-lamp pumped, Q-switched operated, Nd:YAG laser was focused on metallic surfaces, producing removal of the target material. The duration of pulses was 100 ns, FWHM for laser ablation within this temporal domain. Local melting and vaporising govern the mechanisms of material expulsion and the melt ejection occurs through the vapour pressure gradient.