Effects of multiple laser shock processing (LSP) impacts on mechanical properties and wear behaviors of AISI 8620 steel

The aim of this paper was to address the effects of multiple laser shock processing (LSP) impacts with different pulse energy on mechanical properties and wear behaviors of AISI 8620 steel. Wear analyses were conducted by means of calculation of volume loss and scanning electron microscope (SEM) of the wear surface. Surface profiles, roughness and micro-hardness were measured. The micro-structures in the surface layer of the untreated and LSPed samples (treated by multiple LSP impacts) were investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. Experimental results and analyses indicated that multiple LSP impacts can remarkably improve the wear resistance of AISI 8620 steel, and the wear mechanism of multiple LSP impacts on AISI 8620 steel was also entirely revealed. The wear process of the unpolished sample subjected to multiple LSP impacts can be described as follows: the wear rate was big at the beginning of sliding dry wear, but then decreased after the micro-indention in the sample surface was polished to the disappear. This phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that multiple LSP impacts generate many micro-indents in the sample surface.

'Laser chemistry' synthesis, physicochemical properties, and chemical processing of nanostructured carbon foams

Laser ablation of selected coordination complexes can lead to the production of metal-carbon hybrid materials, whose composition and structure can be tailored by suitably choosing the chemical composition of the irradiated targets. This 'laser chemistry' approach, initially applied by our group to the synthesis of P-containing nanostructured carbon foams (NCFs) from triphenylphosphine-based Au and Cu compounds, is broadened in this study to the production of other metal-NCFs and P-free NCFs. Thus, our results show that P-free coordination compounds and commercial organic precursors can act as efficient carbon source for the growth of NCFs. Physicochemical characterization reveals that NCFs are low-density mesoporous materials with relatively low specific surface areas and thermally stable in air up to around 600°C. Moreover, NCFs disperse well in a variety of solvents and can be successfully chemically processed to enable their handling and provide NCF-containing biocomposite fibers by a wet-chemical spinning process. These promising results may open new and interesting avenues toward the use of NCFs for technological applications.

A low-cost 3-D laser imaging system

This paper presents the design and development of a low cost three-dimensional laser imaging system for scanning suitable surfaces. A generic, low cost, off-the-shelf laser range finder is used to obtain the primary one dimensional distance measurement. The range finder’s laser beam is reflected by a twin-axis mirror assembly driven by stepper motors providing the system with two angular degrees of freedom, allowing 3-D measurements to be determined. A camera and image processing techniques are used to determine the measured 1-D range value from the generic range-finding device. A computer program then uses the obtained data to create a 3-D point cloud. An algorithm is then used to construct a 3-D wire frame mesh representing the scanned surface. The system has an angular resolution of 1.8° and the results obtained demonstrate the system to have an accuracy of approximately ± 2cm at a scanning distance of 1.0m.

Comparative study of the microstructures and mechanical properties of direct laser fabricated and arc-melted AlxCoCrFeNi high entropy alloys

High entropy alloys (HEA) are a relatively new metal alloy system that have promising potential in high temperature applications. These multi-component alloys are typically produced by arc-melting, requiring several remelts to achieve chemical homogeneity. Direct laser fabrication (DLF) is a rapid prototyping technique, which produces complex components from alloy powder by selectively melting micron-sized powder in successive layers. However, studies of the fabrication of complex alloys from simple elemental powder blends are sparse. In this study, DLF was employed to fabricate bulk samples of three alloys based on the AlxCoCrFeNi HEA system, where x was 0.3, 0.6 and 0.85M fraction of Al. This produced FCC, FCC/BCC and BCC crystal structures, respectively. Corresponding alloys were also produced by arc-melting, and all microstructures were characterised and compared longitudinal and transverse to the build/solidification direction by x-ray diffraction, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (EDX and EBSD). Strong similarities were observed between the single phase FCC and BCC alloys produced by both techniques, however the FCC/BCC structures differed significantly. This has been attributed to a difference in the solidification rate and thermal gradient in the melt pool between the two different techniques. Room temperature compression testing showed very similar mechanical behaviour and properties for the two different processing routes. DLF was concluded to be a successful technique to manufacture bulk HEA[U+05F3]s.