Lasers can alter the surface composition and properties of materials in a highly controllable way, which makes them efficient and cost-effective tools for surface engineering. This book provides an overview of the different techniques, the laser-material interactions and the advantages and disadvantages for different applications. Part one looks at laser heat treatment, part two covers laser additive manufacturing such as laser-enhanced electroplating, and part three discusses laser micromachining, structuring and surface modification. Chemical and biological applications of laser surface engineering are explored in part four, including ways to improve the surface corrosion properties of metals.

Table of Contents:
List of contributors Woodhead Publishing Series in Electronic and Optical Materials Dedication Preface Part One: Thermal surface treatments using lasers 1. Structures, properties and development trends of laser-surface-treated hot-work steels, light metal alloys and polycrystalline silicon Abstract 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Laser treatment of hot-work alloy tool steels 1.3 Laser treatment of light metal casting alloys 1.4 Texturization of polycrystalline silicon for the purpose of photovoltaics 1.5 Development trends of selected laser-treated engineering materials determined using new computer-integrated prediction methodology 1.6 Conclusion 1.7 Comments 2. Laser nitriding and carburization of materials Abstract Acknowledgment 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Overview on surface alloying of materials by laser irradiation 2.3 Laser nitriding of titanium 2.4 Laser carburization of materials 2.5 Future trends 2.6 Sources of further information and advice 3. Mechanical properties improvement of metallic rolls by laser surface alloying Abstract 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Mechanical properties improvement of metallic rolls by laser surface alloying: experimental procedures 3.3 Laser surface alloying of C-B-W-Cr nano-powders on nodular cast-iron rolls (NCIR) 3.4 Laser surface alloying of NiCr-Cr3C2 powders on semisteel rolls 3.5 Laser surface alloying of NiCr-Cr3C2 powders on cast steel rolls 3.6 Wear behavior of the three kinds of alloyed layers and three roll substrates 3.7 Conclusions 4. Laser surface treatment of AISI 304 steel with the presence of B4C particles at the surface Abstract Acknowledgment 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Experimental producers 4.3 Results and discussion 4.4 Conclusion 5. Characterization and modification of technical ceramics through laser surface engineering Abstract 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Background of laser surface treatment of technical ceramics 5.3 Materials and experimental procedures 5.4 Establishment of laser processing parameters and associated issues 5.5 Modifications of Si3N4 and ZrO2 technical ceramics through laser surface treatment 5.6 Compositional changes 5.7 Microstructural modifications 5.8 Fracture toughness (K1c) modifications 5.9 Temperature distribution and phase transition 5.10 Conclusions Part Two: Laser additive manufacturing in surface treatment and engineering 6. Compositional modification of Ni-base alloys for laser-deposition technologies Abstract Acknowledgments 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Microstructural design to improve toughness 6.3 Selection of the refining element 6.4 Experimental procedure 6.5 Microstructures and phases 6.6 Analysis of crack growth paths 6.7 Microstructural evolutions 6.8 The microstructural refinement–cracking relationship 6.9 Conclusions 7. New metallic materials development by laser additive manufacturing Abstract Acknowledgments 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Selective laser melting of TiC/Ti nanocomposites parts with novel nanoscale reinforcement and enhanced wear performance 7.3 Development of porous stainless steel with controllable microcellular features using selective laser melting 7.4 Conclusion 7.5 Future trends 8. Innovations in laser cladding and direct laser metal deposition Abstract Acknowledgments 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Fundamentals of laser cladding and direct laser metal deposition 8.3 High precision 2D- and 3D-processing 8.4 High productivity processing 8.5 Process control 8.6 Conclusions and future trends 9. Laser-enhanced electroplating for generating micro/nanoparticles with continuous wave and pulsed Nd-YAG laser interactions Abstract Acknowledgment 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Experimental setup 9.3 Results and discussion 9.4 Conclusions 10. Laser hybrid fabrication of tunable micro- and nano-scale surface structures and their functionalization Abstract 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Fabrication of nanoporous copper structures 10.3 Fabrication of 3D manganese-based nanoporous structure (3D-Mn-NPS) 10.4 Fabrication of micro-nano hierarchical Cu/Cu2O structure 10.5 Functionalization of tunable micro-nano surface structures 10.6 Conclusion 11. Laser-controlled intermetallics synthesis during surface cladding Abstract Acknowledgment 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Laser control of self-propagated high-temperature synthesis (SHS) as synergism of the two high-tech processes 11.3 Overlapping of laser cladding and SHS processes for the fabrication of the functional graded (FG) iron, nickel, and titanium aluminides in the surface layers 11.4 Temperature distribution during the layerwise surface laser remelting of exothermal powder compositions 11.5 Theoretical and numerical modelling of selective laser sintering/melting (SLS/M) and SHS hybrid processes 11.6 Conclusion 12. Deposition and surface modification of thin solid structures by high-intensity pulsed laser irradiation Abstract Acknowledgments 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Thin films with patterned surfaces obtained by laser deposition methods 12.3 Direct femtosecond laser surface processing in far- and near-field 12.4 Resources 12.5 Conclusions Part Three: Laser struturing and surface modification 13. Tailoring material properties induced by laser surface processing Abstract Acknowledgments 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Laser texturing of silicon for improving surface functionalities 13.3 Femtosecond laser interactions with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) 13.4 Nd:YAG laser melting of magnesium alloy for corrosion resistance and surface wettability improvement 13.5 Conclusions 14. Femtosecond laser micromachining on optical fiber Abstract 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Femtosecond laser micromachining of optical fibers 14.3 Optical fiber microstructures fabricated by femtosecond laser micromachining 14.4 Optical sensing devices based on optical fiber microstructures 14.5 Current and future trends 15. Spatiotemporal manipulation of ultrashort pulses for three-dimensional (3-D) laser processing in glass materials Abstract Acknowledgment 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Tailoring the focal spot by spatiotemporal manipulation of ultrashort laser pulses 15.3 Three-dimensional (3-D) istropic resolutions at low numerical apertures (NAs) using the combination of slit beam shaping and spatiotemporal focusing methods 15.4 Visualization of the spatiotemporally focused femtosecond laser beam using two-photon fluorescence excitation 15.5 Enhanced femosecond laser filamentation using spatiotemporally focused beams 15.6 Conclusion and future trends Appendix: derivation of the angular chirp coefficient 16. Tribology optimization by laser surface texturing: from bulk materials to surface coatings Abstract Acknowledgments 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Laser ablation behaviors of different materials 16.3 Tribological application of laser surface texturing (LST) to bulk materials 16.4 Tribological application of LST to surface coatings 16.5 Conclusion and future trends 17. Fabrication of periodic submicrometer and micrometer arrays using laser interference-based methods Abstract 17.1 Introduction 17.2 Multibeam interference patterns 17.3 Laser interference lithography 17.4 Direct laser interference patterning 17.5 Laser interference patterning systems 18. Ultrashort pulsed laser surface texturing Abstract 18.1 Introduction 18.2 Physics of thermal versus nonthermal ultrashort pulsed laser surface texturing 18.3 Nanosecond pulsed surface texturing 18.4 Picosecond pulsed surface texturing 18.5 Femtosecond pulsed laser surface texturing 18.6 Attosecond pulsed laser surface texturing: would it reasonably be applicable to surface modifications? 18.7 Conclusion 19. Laser-guided discharge surface texturing Abstract 19.1 Introduction 19.2 Mechanisms of laser-guided discharge texturing (LGDT) 19.3 Experiments of LGDT 19.4 Comparison with Nd:YAG laser-textured surfacing (YAGLT) and electrical discharge surfacing (EDT) 19.5 Conclusions 20. Laser surface treatment to improve the surface corrosion properties of nickel-aluminum bronze Abstract Acknowledgments 20.1 Introduction 20.2 Solid-state laser treatment and development of laser-processing parameters 20.3 Experimental procedure 20.4 Characterization of laser-processed microstructure 20.5 Corrosion performance 20.6 Conclusion 21. Laser surface engineering of titanium and its alloys for improved wear, corrosion and high-temperature oxidation resistance Abstract 21.1 Introduction 21.2 Titanium and its alloys 21.3 Physical metallurgy of titanium and its alloys 21.4 Alloy classification 21.5 Surface dependent engineering properties 21.6 Surface engineering 21.7 Laser surface engineering 21.8 Laser surface engineering of titanium and its alloys 21.9 Conclusion and future trends 22. Laser-initiated ablation of materials Abstract 22.1 Introduction 22.2 Mechanisms involved in ablation 22.3 Demagnified image ablation machining using excimer laser beams 22.4 Issues arising from ablation 22.5 Possible solutions to such issues 22.6 Methods of examining ablation mechanisms 22.7 Conclusion Part Four: Chemical and biological applications of laser surface engineering 23. Luminescence spectroscopy as versatile probes for chemical diagnostics on the solid–liquid interface Abstract 23.1 Introduction 23.2 Chemical analysis of lanthanide and actinide ions by time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) 23.3 Analysis of TRLFS data 23.4 Recent progress in chemical analysis of actinides by laser spectroscopy 23.5 Recent trends in chemical analysis of actinides by laser spectroscopy 23.6 Future trends in laser spectroscopy 24. Ablation effects of femtosecond laser functionalization on surfaces Abstract 24.1 Introduction 24.2 Laser techniques and materials 24.3 Topographical effects 24.4 Chemical and microstructural effects 24.5 Potential applications 24.6 Conclusions 25. Laser surface engineering in dentistry Abstract 25.1 Introduction 25.2 Effect of lasers on soft tissues 25.3 Effect of lasers on hard tissues 25.4 Future trends 26. Laser-assisted fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds from titanium alloys Abstract Acknowledgments 26.1 Introduction 26.2 Influence of the selective laser sintering (SLS)-technique-obtained 3-D porous matrix for tissue engineering on the culture of multipotent mesenchymal stem cells 26.3 Preclinical testing of SLS-obtained titan and nitinol implants’ biocompatibility and biointegration 26.4 Finite-elemental optimization of SLS-obtained implants’ porous structure 26.5 The SLS-assisted functional design of porous drug delivery systems based on nitinol 26.6 Future remarks 27. Laser melting of NiTi and its effects on in vitro mesenchymal stem cell responses Abstract 27.1 Introduction 27.2 Experimental details 27.3 Results and discussion 27.4 Conclusions Index