Analysis of Variation in the Surface Morphology of Aluminum Alloy by Repetitive Pulsed-laser Irradiation

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the thermal behavior on material surface and the variation in the surface morphology of aluminum 6061 alloy by the Nd:YAG pulsed-laser irradiation. First, we predicted the surface temperature variation during pulsed-laser irradiation by using the two dimensional finite element analysis. When the pulsed-laser of 133 mJ energy and 5 ns pulse duration is irradiated on the surface of aluminum alloy, the material surface is thought to be melting because the surface temperature rises steadily up to about 660 ℃ exceeding the melting point. Also, the experimental results show that the solidification microstructure has been developed clearly after surface melting. Second, the diameter of melted zone was analysed by finite element analysis and measured by OM(Optical Microscopy). It increased logarithmically with increase in the number of laser irradiation. In addition, AFM(Atomic Force Microscopy) measurement showed an increase in the averag