Ceramics Surface Modification by Excimer Laser Metal Coating

Thin metallic layers (~ 2 μm) of Ni were deposited on polycrystalline Al2O3. ZrO2 and (Ce-TZP)+Al2O3 ceramic substrates. and further irradiated with pulsed excimer (Xeno chloride) laser pulses. The laser energy density was varied from 0.21 to 0.81 J / cm2 to optimize bending strength. For ZrO2 ceramic, it was found that the strength increases from 530 to 753 MPa at 0.51 J / cm2 irradiation. For Al2O3 and (Ce-TZP)+ Al2O3 the fracture strength also increases in varying degree. The causes of strength increment were discussed.

Effect of Heat Treatment on Crystallization of Nd:YAG Ceramics

（Nd0.01Y0.99）3Al5O12 nano-sized powders were synthesized by low temperature combustion （LCS）, using Nd2O3, Y2O3, Al（NO3）3.9H2O, ammonia water and citric acid as starting materials. The powders were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FT-IR, ICP and TEM, respectively. The grain sizes were calculated by the Scherrer＇s formula using the full width at half maximum （FWHM） of YAG （420） crystal plane diffraction lines. The study focused on crystallization of ceramics at different heat treatment temperatures. The experimental results show that crystallizing temperature of YAG is 850 ℃, and the intermediate crystal phase YAP, appearing during heat treatment, transforms to YAG cubic crystal phase at the temperature of 1 050℃. The particle size of the powders synthesized by LCS is nano-sized. With the temperature increasing, the mean grain sizes raise, the stand deviations keep almost at the value of 2.0 and the lattice parameters decrease. The grains mainly grow by grain boundary diffusion. The lattice parameter expansion is caused by an increase of the repulsive dipolar interactions on surfaces of crystallites,

Additive Manufacturing of Ceramic Structures by Laser Engineered Net Shaping

Ceramic is an important material with outstanding physical properties whereas impurities and porosities generated by traditional manufacturing methods limits its further industrial applications. In order to solve this problem, direct fabrication of Al2O3 ceramic structures is conducted by laser engineered net shaping system and pure ceramic powders. Grain refinement strengthening method by doping Zr O2 and dispersion strengthening method by doping Si C are proposed to suppress cracks in fabricating Al2O3 structure. Phase compositions, microstructures as well as mechanical properties of fabricated specimens are then analyzed. The results show that the proposed two methods are effective in suppressing cracks and structures of single-bead wall, arc and cylinder ring are successfully deposited. Stable phase of α-Al2O3 and t-Zr O2 are obtained in the fabricated specimens. Micro-hardness higher than 1700 HV are also achieved for both Al2O3 and Al2O3/Zr O2, which are resulted from fine directional crystals generated by the melting-solidification process. Results presented indicate that additive manufacturing is a very attractive technique for the production of high-performance ceramic structures in a single step.

Design and Implementation of a System for Laser Assisted Milling of Advanced Materials

Laser assisted machining is an effective method to machine advanced materials with the added benefits of longer tool life and increased material removal rates. While extensive studies have investigated the machining properties for laser assisted milling（LAML）, few attempts have been made to extend LAML to machining parts with complex geometric features. A methodology for continuous path machining for LAML is developed by integration of a rotary and movable table into an ordinary milling machine with a laser beam system. The machining strategy and processing path are investigated to determine alignment of the machining path with the laser spot. In order to keep the material removal temperatures above the softening temperature of silicon nitride, the transformation is coordinated and the temperature interpolated, establishing a transient thermal model. The temperatures of the laser center and cutting zone are also carefully controlled to achieve optimal machining results and avoid thermal damage. These experiments indicate that the system results in no surface damage as well as good surface roughness, validating the application of this machining strategy and thermal model in the development of a new LAML system for continuous path processing of silicon nitride. The proposed approach can be easily applied in LAML system to achieve continuous processing and improve efficiency in laser assisted machining.

Single,composite,and ceramic Nd:YAG 946-nm lasers

Single, composite crystal and ceramic continuous wave （CW） 946-nm Nd：YAG lasers are demonstrated, respectively. The ceramic laser behaves better than the crystal laser. With 5-mm long ceramic, a CW output power of 1.46 W is generated with an optical conversion efficiency of 13.9%, while the slope efficiency is 17.9%. The optimal ceramic length for a 946- nm laser is also calculated.

High-Power Dual-End-Pumped Actively Q-Switched Ho:YAG Ceramic Laser

We present a high-power Ho：YAG ceramic laser pumped at 1908nm. Using a dual-end-pumped structure, the maximum continuous-wave output power of 48 W is obtained, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 70.4% with respect to the absorbed pump power. At actively Q-switched mode, the maximum average output power of 46 W and the minimum pulse width of 21 ns are achieved at a pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 109.5kW. In addition, the beam-quality M2 factor is found to be 1.4 at the maximum output power.

A Mid-IR Optical Parametric Oscillator Pumped by an Actively Q-Switched Ho:YAG Ceramic Laser

We demonstrate a mid-IR ZnGeP2 （ZGP） optical parametric oscillator （OPO） pumped by a dual-end-pumped actively aeoasto-optie Q-switched Ho：YAG ceramic laser. The maximum average output power of 35 W is obtained at a pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz from the Ho：YAG ceramic laser. Under the maximum incident pump power of Ho：YAG ceramic laser, the maximum output power of 14 W is obtained from the ZGP OPO, corresponding to the slope efficiency of 49.6% with respect to the incident pump power. The wavelength can be tuned from 3.5 μm to 4.2μm （signal）, corresponding to 5.24.1 μm （idler）. The beam quality M2 is less than 2.3 from the ZGP OPO.

Spectral and laser properties of Yb and Ho co-doped(YLa)_2O_3 transparent ceramic

Highly transparent Yb,Ho doped（YLa）2O3 ceramic was fabricated by conventional ceramic processing with nanopowders.The absorption and emission spectra of the ceramic was investigated.The energy transfer mechanism between Yb3＋ and Ho3＋ was also discussed.The strong emission band around 2 μm indicated that the Yb-Ho：（Y 0.90 La 0.10）2O3 transparent ceramic is a promising gain medium for the generation of 2 μm laser emissions.The laser operation of Yb-Ho co-doped（YLa）2O3 ceramic at 2.1 μm is first reported.

Surface Modification of Ceramic Materials Using Excimer Laser

Changes of surface morphology following XeCI excimer laser irradiation were investigated for three engineering ceramic materials (Al2O3, Al2O3-SiC nanocomposite and Si3N4). Al2O3 and AI2O3-SiC nanocomposite samples exhibit a smooth rapid melt layer on the surface, and the formation of the metastabfe γ-Al2Oa was observed. A silicon-rich layer on the surface was formed after laser irradiation of Si3N4. The toughness K1c of the materials was measured by the indentation fracture method. After laser irradiation, the toughness of Al2O3, Al2O3-SiC nanocomposite and Si3N4 was improved to various degrees: Al2O3-SiC nanocomposite, 60% (max.); AI203, 40% (max.); Si3N4, 12% (max.).

Efficient Diode-Pumped Actively Q-Switched Ceramic Nd:YAG/YVO4 Raman Laser Operating at 1657 nm

A diode-pumped actively Q-switched Raman laser is demonstrated, with YV04 employed as Raman active medium, based on a ceramic Nd：YAG laser operating at 1444nm. The first-stokes Raman generation at 1657nm is achieved. A maximum output power of as high as 612mW is obtained under a pump power of 20. 7 W and at a pulse repetition frequency rate of 20kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 3%.

Synthesis of Neodymium-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd∶YAG) Nano-Sized Powders by Low Temperature Combustion

The homogeneously dispersed, less agglomerated (Nd0.01Y0.99)3Al5O12 nano-sized powders were synthesized by the low temperature combustion (LCS), using Nd2O3, Y2O3, Al(NO3)3·9H2O, ammonia water and citric acid as starting materials. This method effectively solves the problems caused by solid-state reaction at high temperature and hard agglomerates brought by the chemical precipitation method. The powders were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FT-IR, TEM respectively and the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of (Nd0.01Y0.99)3Al5O12 green and sintered ceramic disks were measured. The results show that the forming temperature of YAG crystal phase is 850 ℃ and YAP crystal phase appearing during the calcinations transforms to pure YAG at 1050 ℃. The particle size of the powders synthesized by the LCS is in a range of 20～50 nm depending on the thermal treatment temperatures. The effectively induced cross section (σin) with the value 4.03×10-19 cm2 of (Nd0.01Y0.99)3Al5O12 ceramics is about 44% higher than that of single crystal.

Ablation effects and mechanism of sintered silicon carbide ceramics by an ArF excimer laser

The ablation of sintered silicon carbide ceramics by an ArF excimer laser was studied. Three zones are generated： the ablation zone that presented molten morphology and was composed by the Si and C phase; the condensation zone formed by vaporized SiC; and the oxidation zone that showed the characteristics of thermal oxidation. The ablation depth and oxidation range increase linearly with fluence and pulses within 0.5-4 J/cm2, but the normalized ablation efficiency is constant （3.60± 0.60 μm · mm2/J）. The theoretical photochemical ablation depth supplies 25% of the total depth at 1 J/cm2 but decreases to 16% at 4 J/cm2. The ablation is dominated by the photothermal effect and conforms to the thermal evaporation mechanism.

Generation of sub-100-fs pulses from a diode-pumped Yb：Y3ScAl4O12 ceramic laser

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of sub-100-fs pulses from a diode-pumped passively mode-locked Yb：Y3ScAl4O12 （Yb：YSAG） ceramic laser. Stable mode-locked pulses as short as 96 fs at the central wavelength of 1052 nm with a repetition rate of -102 MHz are obtained. The laser has a maximum average output power of 51 mW. To the best of our knowledge, these are so far the shortest pulses and the first demonstration of sub-100- fs pulses obtained from the mode-locked Yb：YSAG ceramic lasers.

Solid-state-reaction fabrication and properties of a high-doping Nd:YAG transparent laser ceramic

High-quality neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet(Nd:YAG)transparent ceramic(4.0 mole percent)was fabricated by a solid-state reaction method and vacuum sintering.The microstructure,optical transmittance,spectral properties and laser performance were investigated.The average grain size of the sample is about 10 mm.The transmittance of a 2.8-mm thick sample reaches 79.5%at the laser wavelength of 1064 nm.The highest absorption peak is centered at 807 nm and the absorption coefficient is 13.9 cm^(-1).The absorption coefficient at the laser wavelength is 0.2 cm^(-1).The main emission peak is at 1064 nm and the fluorescence lifetime is 102 ms.A laser diode(808 nm)whose maximum output is about 1000 mW was used as a pump source and an endpumped laser experiment was performed.The 1064 nm-CW-laser output was obtained and the threshold is 733 mW.With 998 mW of maximum absorbed pump power,a laser output of 17 mW is obtained with a slope efficiency of 6.1%.