Texturing with Different Kinds of Lasers for Industry 2013-36-0585

Tribological properties in two sliding surfaces can be improved by creation of micro cavities, or dimples, in one of the two surfaces. Laser can generate dimples with higher repeatability rate than machining process. However, higher precision and efficiency are not reached in the same time by any laser. Nanosecond laser allows high ablation rates but is noted the formation of the burr around the dimple and creating of bigger heat-affected zone (HAZ). Picoseconds and femtoseconds lasers also called of ultrashort lasers pulse create dimples almost without burrs and with smaller HAZ. Although ultrashort lasers pulses are better than short lasers pulses, the time to create thousands of dimples is longer. In the industry, quality and time are fundamentals parameters. Then, it is necessary to evaluate the better laser for your application. This paper shows the mechanism of each kind of laser with the matter to explain how the quality and the process time of the dimple is affected by kind of laser [1].