Review
Laser nano-technology of light materials: Precision and opportunity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2021.106988Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The LNT materials realized the energy saving and emission reduction.

  • The LNT induced multi-phase composites exhibited excellent properties.

  • The LNT memory alloy exhibited the ultrahigh mechanical and shape memory properties.

Abstract

This review discusses the main factors of the formation mechanism of the laser fabricated nano-materials, focusing on the precision microstructures, mechanical properties, biocompatibility, also the research status. Laser nano-technology (LNT), that is, the precision nano-particle/structure/texture can be produced in the light alloys under an action of the laser beam, which can effectively improve the properties of the light alloys, mainly including the laser cladding (LC), selective laser melting (SLM) and laser shock peening (LSP) nano-technology. The trend of development of LNT is discussed, which includes: the preparation of the nano-gradient, the amorphous, the quasicrystalline light materials, the smart nano-materials, the connection of LNT and other techniques. Taking full use of the opportunities for the nano-materials produced by LNT to enlarge the applications of the light alloys also overcome the series of the scientific/technological issues in the coming future.

Introduction

The light alloys include the titanium (Ti), the magnesium (Mg) and the aluminium (Al) alloy, acting an indispensable role in the aerospace, marine, chemical industries and biomedical equipment due to their low density (Mg, Al alloys), the excellent performance (Ti, Al alloys) and biocompatibility (Ti alloys) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. Nevertheless, the applications of the light alloys are limited to some extent in the industry fields, such as the wear resistance and high temperature oxidation of Ti and its alloys are usually poor, restricting their application in the certain tribological and engineering industries [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]. Also their high corrosion resistance extremely relies on the protective oxide film (TiO2), while the oxide film may be damaged after a long period of corrosion [15]. For instance, Ti-6Al-4V (TC4) working in a human body long-term releases aluminum (Al) and vanadium (V) elements, which are harmful to humans’ health due to the biotoxicity [16], [17]. As for Mg alloys, the poor wear performance and the corrosion resistance need to be improved for a wider application [18]. As for Al and its alloys, their main drawbacks are relative low micro-hardness, melting point and poor wear resistance [19].

Large amounts of surface modification techniques should be used in order to handle these above issues, such as Anodic Oxidation [20]; Micro-Arc Oxidation [21]; High Current Pulsed Electron Beam (HCPEB) [22]; Vacuum arc deposition (VA-PVD) [23]; Plasma-detonation techniques [24]; Ion Implantatio [25]; Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) [26]; Pulse modulation of powerful ion fluxes [27]; Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) [28], [29] and Welding [30], [31], [32], [33], [34] etc., which effectively improve the alloys’ surface properties to a certain extent. Micro drilling employing ultra-short pulsed lasers is a promising manufacturing technology for producing the high aspect ratio holes, particularly on ceramic substrates; there are several works devoted to pulse laser beam usage for relatively small holes with various shapes (and the size of the holes is 530–615 mkm) [3], [35], [36]. With the development of the technique, the nano-materials become a tropical research point due to their excellent optical, electrical, magnetic and thermal and mechanical properties, which can greatly improve the properties of light alloys [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42]. Fortunately, laser beams make it possible for nanocrystallization of light alloys, which can be ascribed to the high energy density, excellent directionality also the prompt cooling rate [43], [44], [45]. LNT is very important to the light materials, the surface performance of the light alloys can be improved under an action of nanoscale particles, acting an indispensable role in the certain tribological and engineering industries [46], [47]. LNT is the combination of laser surface treatment and nano-structure surface techniques, mainly including LC, LMD, SLM and LSP. In this paper, the recent developments of LNT of the light materials are reviewed.

Section snippets

LC process

Two methods were adopted to form the coating via LC technique, one is forming the pre-placed powder layer with thickness of 1 mm, which will be treated by a laser beam with the high energy density, the other is synchronously feeding powders on the substrate deposited by a laser heat source during a LC process, resulting in the LC coating [48]. The moving of the LC direction can be controlled by the operating system, the shielding gas is used to protect the surface of coatings’ from the

Research status of LNT

The research status of LNT can be roughly divided into two categories: one is utilizing the high energy density laser beam to treat the alloys’ surfaces without powders-add [68]. Another is adding certain powders for obtaining the nano-materials through in-situ reaction and powders implant [69].

Combination of LNT and other methods

Although LNT has lots of the benefits, the other techniques also show numerous advantages [93]. Thus, it is a tendency to combine LNT with other techniques to improve the properties of light alloys.

Metallic shot peening (MSP), as a conventional method of inducing the residual stresses, provides residual stresses to a maximum depth of approximately 250 mm. In the Ref. [94], MSP was combined with LSP. The results showed that a high dislocation density with large shear bands and dislocation

The main issues and their solutions

Although LNT is beneficial to enhance the alloys’ properties, some the defects, such as the pores or the cracks can exist in the reinforced alloy, ascribing to the improper parameters and the selection of unsuitable materials.

As mentioned above in Section 2.3, although the high laser reflectivity and high thermal conductivity of Al alloys make it difficult to manufacture high-density parts under the action of low P, some researchers found it is feasible for Al alloys to be fabricated by SLM

Conclusions

The research status and development of LNT of light alloys mentioned in this paper can be summarized as follow:

  • (1)

    The surface performance of the light alloys can be improved greatly under an action of nanoscale particles in the form laser-treated bulk, such as the wear resistance and high temperature oxidation. etc., acting an indispensable role in the certain tribological and the engineering industries.

  • (2)

    It is vital to optimize the process parameters of LNT, favoring the nano-materials to be

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

Project ZR2019YQ25 supported by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation and the Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province are appreciated.

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