Monday, May 6, 2013

Novel method for alloying Aluminum


Abstract
A new technique for surface modification was demonstrated using laser induced plasma (LIP) to enhance surface alloying process. This LIP treatment provides a very high heating and quenching rates that can be used to form alloyed layer on a material surface. LIP technique was used to alloy Fe-Cu mixture with pure Al substrate. The microstructure of the alloyed layers was analyzed by SEM which showed smooth, continues and good surface. The hardness of the alloyed material is measured and the results showed that the alloyed surface is 3 times as hard as the un-treated surface. The results showed also that a single Fe alloyed aluminum surface is harder than the one formed by the mixture of Fe and Cu. The maximum hardness of 93.0 HV is obtained with the use of single Fe after exposure to 4 pulses of the laser.

Current Problem/Background
Commonlly laser surface alloy using high power and continuous laser like CO2 and involve two processes . Alloying with lower power within 3-4 kW and remelting with even greater power 8-9 kW [12]. And the alloying occurs direct by laser exposure at a distance to enlarge the beam size in order to reduce the intensity. Other laser like cw of 2 kW Nd:YAG laser also used to irradiate on a mixture of the monometallic colloidal solution about 10 minutes to form Au/Ag alloy [13].

Source: rmc.utm.my/inatex

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