Femtosecond laser polishing of additively manufactured parts at grazing incidence

Nan Li (1) , Peixun Fan (1) , Qiuchi Zhu (1) , Bai Cui (2) , Jean-François Silvain (3, 1) , Yongfeng Lu (1)

1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
2 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
3 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux

Surface polishing is usually a requisite for making additively manufactured (AM) parts ready for practical applications. Due to its advantages of being flexible and noncontact, laser polishing has attracted increasing research interest. Laser polishing primarily utilizes continuous-wave or long-pulse lasers to melt thin surface layers, which usually depends on the initial surface roughness of AM parts, and also less effective for materials and applications sensitive to heat. In this research, femtosecond (fs) laser polishing was established to post-process both the top surfaces and sidewalls of AM parts. The challenge to remove three levels of roughness (i.e., the initial surface roughness of the AM parts, the undulations newly introduced during fs laser polishing, and the micro-nanoscale surface features induced by fs laser irradiation) was identified and addressed. Mirror surfaces with Sa < 200 nm were achieved on stainless steel parts printed with an initial roughness > 20 µm, equivalent to > 99% improvement on the surface finish. Both parallel- and perpendicular-incidence were investigated for the polishing, with the former verified to be more effective in eliminating the initial roughness of the AM parts, due to the elongated focal intensity profile of a Gaussian beam irradiated on the AM part surfaces. The challenge of forming three-zone surfaces during the parallel-incidence was further addressed through a grazing-incidence polishing approach, and uniform smooth surfaces were realized. Fine-tuning the laser power enabled controlling the submicron surface features formed under fs laser irradiation (from continuous ripples to random and finer particles), which determined the final achievable surface roughness. This research has laid a foundation to make fs laser polishing an effective technique for processing various materials.

Mots clés: Additive manufacturing; Femtosecond laser; Laser polishing; Grazing incidence

Domaines: Matériaux

Nan Li, Peixun Fan, Qiuchi Zhu, Bai Cui, Jean-François Silvain, et al.. Femtosecond laser polishing of additively manufactured parts at grazing incidence. Applied Surface Science, 2023, 612, 155833 (10 p.). ⟨10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.155833⟩. ⟨hal-03646753v2⟩