Surface Structuring by Laser Remelting (WaveShape): Microstructuring of Ti6Al4V for a Small Laser Beam Diameter and High Scan Speeds

Micromachines, vol. 12, pp. 660

Abstract

The appearance of a surface is a crucial characteristic of a part or component. Laser-based micromachining gets increasingly important in generating tailored surface topographies. A novel structuring technique for surface engineering is surface structuring by laser remelting (WaveShape), in which surface features are created without material loss. In this study, we investigated the evolution of surface topographies on Ti6Al4V for a laser beam diameter of 50 m and scan speeds larger than 100 mm/s. Surface features with aspect ratios (ratio of height to width) of almost 1:1 were achieved using the WaveShape process. Furthermore, wavelengths smaller than 500 m could be effectively structured using scan speeds of up to 500 mm/s. The experimental results showed further that the efficiency of the WaveShape process in terms of achieved structure height per unit time significantly increases for high scan speeds.

Authors 1

1. André Temmler corresponding Aachen Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF)

   RWTH Aachen University · Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF), Albert-Einstein-Straße 7, 07745 Jena, Germany 2 Chair for Laser Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstraße 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany