Effect of surface morphology changes of Ti-6Al-4V alloy modified by laser treatment on GDOES elemental depth profilesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c2ja30186e

• Main Authors: Molchan, Igor S, Marimuthu, Sundar, Mhich, Abdeslam, Liu, Zhu, Hashimoto, Teruo, Thompson, George E, Whitehead, David, Wang, Zengbo B, Mativenga, Paul, Li, Lin, Grafton-Reed, Clive, Leaver, Ian H, Cheetham, Simon, Dilworth, Steve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 05.12.2012
• ISSN: 0267-9477; 1364-5544
• DOI: 10.1039/c2ja30186e

An aerospace grade Ti-6Al-4V alloy, treated by an excimer laser, has been analysed by elemental depth profiling using glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDOES). Laser exposure may modify the surface morphology of the alloy due to melting and generation of microcracks. Melting reduces the roughness over an area of 1 × 1 μm, whereas the roughness over an area of 100 × 100 μm increases. The influence of such modification of the surface morphology on changes in the shapes of the GDOES elemental depth profiles is discussed. Laser exposure may modify the surface morphology leading to changes in the shapes of the GDOES elemental depth profiles.