Heat-treated microstructure and mechanical properties of laser solid forming Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The effects of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of laser solid forming （LSF） Ti-6Al-4V alloy were investigated The influences of the temperature and time of solution treatment and aging treatment were analyzed. The results show that the microstructure of LSFed samples consists of Widmanstatten α laths and a little acicular in columnar prior β grains with an average grain width of 300 μm, which grow epitaxiaUy from the substrate along the deposition direction （27）. Solution treatment had an important effect on the width, aspect ratio, and volmne fraction of primary and secondary a laths, and aging treatment mainly affects the aspect ratio and volume fraction of primary α laths and the width and volume fraction of secondary a laths. Globular a phase was first observed in LSFed samples when the samples were heat treated with solution treatment （950℃, 8 h/air cooling （AC）） or with solution treatment （950℃, 1 h/AC） and aging treatment （550℃, above 8 h/AC）, respectively. The coarsening and globularization mechanisms of a phase in LSFed Ti-6Al-4V alloy during heat treatment were presented. To obtain good integrated mechanical properties for LSFed Ti-6Al-4V alloys, an optimized heat treatment regimen was suggested.

Effect of Intermediate Heat Treatment Temperature on Microstructure and Notch Sensitivity of Laser Solid Formed Inconel 718 Superalloy

Inconel 718 superalloys deposited by laser solid forming （LSF） were heat treated with solution treatment,intermediate heat treatment （IHT） and two-stage aging treatment in sequence （SITA heat treatment）.The effect of IHT temperature on microstructure,tensile property and notch sensitivity of LSFed Inconel 718 superalloy at 500 ℃ were investigated.As-deposited columnar grains have transformed to equiaxed grains and the grains were refined due to the recrystallization during the SITA heat treatment.It is found that the size and amount of δ phase dispersed at grain boundaries decreased with the increasing of IHT temperature,and δ phase disappeared when the IHT temperature reached 1 020 ℃.The ultimate tensile strength （UTS） and yield strength （YS） of smooth samples increased to a maximum when the IHT temperature reached 980 ℃ and then decreased slightly to a minimum when the IHT temperature was 1 000 ℃,and followed by slight increasing again till the IHT temperature reached 1 020 ℃,resulted from the competition of precipitation strengthening effect of γ″ and γ＇ phase and the grain boundary weakening effect caused by the gradual disappearance of δ phase with increasing the IHT temperature.The notch sensitivity factor （qe） decreased but still greater than 1 as the IHT temperature increased,which is attributed to the decrease of the size and amount of δ precipitation.

Influence of processing parameters on deposition characteristics of Inconel 625 superalloy fabricated by laser solid forming

A series of single track clads of Inconel 625 alloy were fabricated by laser solid forming.To achieve the high dimensional accuracy and excellent mechanical properties,the effect of processing parameters on the geometry,the formation of Laves phase and the residual stress was investigated.The results show that laser power and scanning speed had a dramatical influence on the width and height of single-track clads.According to the columnar to equiaxed transition curve of Inconel 625,the grain morphology can be predicted during the LSF process.With the increasing laser power and the decreasing scanning speed,the segregation degree of Si,Nb,Mo,the volume fraction and size of Laves phase increased.Vickers indentation was used to demonstrate that optimizing processing parameter can achieve the minimum residual tensile stress.

Hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of the laser solid formed TC4 titanium alloy

Hot compressive experiments of the laser solid formed(LSFed)TC4 titanium alloy were conducted at a wide temperature range of 650-950℃and strain rate of 0.01-10 s^(-1).The Arrheniustype constitutive models of the LSFed TC4 alloy were established at the temperature range of 800-950℃and of 650-800℃,respectively.The average relative error between the predicted stresses and experimental values in those two temperature ranges are 10.4%and 8.3%,respectively,indicating that the prediction models constructed in this paper are in a good agreement with experimental data.Processing maps were established by the principle of dynamic materials modeling on the basis of the data achieved from the hot compression experiments.The processing parameters corresponding to the stable and unstable regions of material deformation can be determined from the processing maps.The microstructure evolution of the stable and unstable regions of the samples after tests were observed.Finally,the effect of hot compressive parameters on the microstructure were investigated to research the dynamic recrystallization and the texture of the deformed LSFed TC4 alloy.

Microstructure evolution of laser solid forming of Ti-Al-V ternary system alloys from blended elemental powders

Morphology evolution of prior β grains of laser solid forming （LSF） Ti-xAl-yV （x 11,y 20） alloys from blended elemental powders is investigated. The formation mechanism of grain morphology is revealed by incorporating columnar to equiaxed transition （CET） mechanism during solidification. The morphology of prior β grains of LSF Ti-6Al-yV changes from columnar to equiaxed grains with increasing element V content from 4 to 20 wt.-%. This agrees well with CET theoretical prediction. Likewise, the grain morphology of LSF Ti-xAl-2V from blended elemental powders changes from large columnar to small equiaxed with increasing Al content from 2 to 11 wt.-%. The macro-morphologies of LSF Ti-8Al-2V and Ti-11Al-2V from blended elemental powders do not agree with CET predictions. This is caused by the increased disturbance effects of mixing enthalpy with increasing Al content, generated in the alloying process of Ti, Al, and V in the molten pool.

Effect of dimensionless heat input during laser solid forming of high-strength steel

Laser solid forming(LSF)technology can be used to rapidly manufacture and repair high-strength steel parts with superior performance,but the value of the heat input during operation is difficult to quantify,which has a substantial impact on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts.A promising method to improve the forming efficiency and quality of LSFed parts is to accurately control the heat input and explore its relationship with the microstructure and mechanical properties.To remove the interference of other variables from the experiment,the dimensionless heat input Q;^(∗)was introduced.The Q^(∗)values were designed in advance to calculate the experimental parameters used to perform the LSF experiment.The microstructure was observed at different regions of the sample,and its mechanical properties were analyzed.From the results,the following conclusions were drawn.The Q;^(∗)value was directly related to the cooling rate and heat accumulation in the top structure,leading to the formation of different microstructures;it also modified the original structure at the bottom,affecting the subsequent thermal cycle and indirectly changing the tempered martensite morphology.The heat input also affected the mechanical properties of the sample.The hardness of the stable zone decreased with increasing Q;^(∗)value,and the lowest value was 190 HV.Similarly,the tensile strength and yield strength of the LSFed samples decreased considerably with increasing Q;^(∗)value,and the lowest values were 735 and 604 MPa,respectively.Only the elongation and reduction in the area increased after a slight decrease.The Q;^(∗)value had a significant effect on heat treatment.When Q;^(∗)=2.9,the increase in tensile strength and yield strength after heat treatment was the largest(29%and 44%,respectively).

High strength and ductility of 34CrNiMo6 steel produced by laser solid forming

Because of the excellent mechanical properties of 34 CrNiMo6 steel, it is widely used in high-value components. Many conventional approaches to strengthening-steels typically involve the loss of useful ductility.In this study, 34 CrNiMo6 Steel having high strength and ductility is produced by laser solid forming(LSF)with a quenching-tempering(QT) treatment. Tempering of bainite is mainly by solid phase transformation in the previous LSF layers during the LSF process. The stable microstructure of LSF consists of ferrite and fine carbides. The microstructure transfers to tempered sorbite after heat-treatment. The tensile properties of the LSF steel meet those of the wrought standard. The UTS and elongation of LSF sample at 858 MPa, 19.2%, respectively, are greater than those of the wrought. The QT treatment enhanced the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of the LSF sample. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, reduction in area, and elongation of the LSF+QT sample at 980 MPa, 916 MPa, 58.9%, and 13.9%,respectively, are greater than those of the wrought standard. The yield strength of the LSF+QT sample is approximately 1.27 times that of the wrought. The LSF samples failed in a ductile fracture mode, while the LSF+QT samples showed mixed-mode failure. The defects have only a small effect on the tensile properties owing to the excellent ductility of the LSF sample.

Medium performance effect on the high output energy from a xenon lamp-pumped pyrromethene-567 solid-state dye laser

In order to obtain a high output energy from a xenon lamp-pumped solid-state dye laser, homogeneities of laser mediums and flatnesses of medium faces with different processing treatments are discussed in the paper. The mediums without aging treatment, which are prepared by using a prepolymer process and have diamond-machined end faces to produce the required optical finish, give a highest laser output of 281.9 mJ with 0.215% slope efficiency at 2.0x 10^-4 mol/L. The best medium lifetime is 21 shots to 50% of original output equating 74.6 k J/liter.

Microstructure and compressive/tensile characteristic of large size Zr-based bulk metallic glass prepared by laser solid forming

The large size, crack-free Zr_(55)Cu_(30)Al_(10)Ni_(5) bulk metallic glass(BMGs) with the diameter of 54 mm and the height of 15 mm was built by laser solid forming additive manufacturing technology, whose size is larger than the critical diameter by casting. The microstructure, tensile and compressive deformation behaviors and fracture morphology of laser solid formed Zr_(55)Cu_(30)Al_(10)Ni_5 BMGs were investigated. It is found that the crystallization mainly occurs in the heat-affected zones of deposition layers, which consist of Al_5Ni_3Zr_2, NiZr_2, ZrCu, CuZr_2 phases. The content of amorphous phase in the deposit is about 63%.Under the compressive loading, the deposit presents no plasticity before fracture occurs. The fracture process is mainly controlled by the shear stress and the compressive shear fracture angles of about39?. The compressive strength reaches 1452 MPa, which is equivalent to that of as-Cast Zr_(55)Cu_(30)Al_(10)Ni_5 BMGs, and there exist vein-like patterns, river-like patterns and smooth regions at the compressive fractography. Under the tensile loading, the deposit presents the brittle fracture pattern without plastic deformation. The fracture process exhibits normal fracture model, and the tensile shear fracture angle of about 90?. The tensile strength is only about 609 MPa, and the tensile fractography mainly consists of micro-scaled cores and vein-like patterns, dimple-like patterns, chocolate-like patterns and smooth regions. The results further verified the feasibility and large potential of laser additive manufacturing on fabrication and industrial application of large-scale BMGs parts.

Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation of the impulse delivering from laser-produced plasma to solid target

A plasma is produced in air by using a high-intensity Q-switch Nd：YAG pulsed laser to irradiate a solid target, and the impulses delivering from the plasma to the target are measured at different laser power densities. Analysing the formation process of laser plasma and the laser supported detonation wave （LSDW） and using fluid mechanics theory and Pirri＇s methods, an approximately theoretical solution of the impulse delivering from the plasma to the target under our experimental condition is found. Furthermore, according to the formation time of plasma and the variation of pressure in plasma in a non-equilibrium state, a physical model of the interaction between the pulse laser and the solid target is developed. The plasma evolutions with time during and after the laser pulse irradiating the target are simulated numerically by using a three-dimensional difference scheme. And the numerical solutions of the impulse delivering from the plasma to the target are obtained. A comparison among the theoretical, numerical and experimental results and their analyses are performed. The experimental results are explained reasonably. The consistency between numerical results and experimental results implies that the numerical calculation model used in this paper can well describe the mechanical action of the laser on the target.

New Progress on All Solid State Laser Technology in China

1 Significance of All Solid State Laser (DPL) Technology in Field of LaserBecause of the advantages of high conversion efficiency, good beam quality, small size and light weight, DPL becomes the hotspot and priority of development of laser technology. It may be the main body of laser in the future and replace gas laser and liquid laser. It is a great revolution of laser technology.The developed countries vie in developing DPL. China has achieved great success in this field, but there is a wide gap between the developed countries and us. We should attach great importance to it.

Superplastic solid state welding of steel and copper alloy based on laser quenching of steel surface

Based on the feasibility of isothermal superplastic solid state welding of steel and copper alloy, the welded surface of steel surface was ultra-fined through laser quenching, and then the welding process tests between different base metals of 40Cr and QCr0.5 were made under the condition of non vacuum and non shield gas. The experimental results show that, with the sample surface of steel after laser quenching and that of copper alloy carefully cleaned, and under the pre-pressed stress of 56.684.9 MPa, at the welding temperature of 750800 ℃ and at initial strain rate of （2.57.5）×10-4 s-1, the solid state welding can be finished in 120180 s so that the strength of the joint is up to that of QCr0.5 base metal and the expansion rate of the joint does not exceed 6%. The plastic deformation of the joint was further analysed. The superplastic deformation of the copper alloy occurs in welding process and the deformation of steel are little.

Absorption of ultrashort intense lasers in laser–solid interactions

With the advent of ultrashort high intensity laser pulses, laser absorption during the laser–solid interactions has received significant attention over the last two decades since it is related to a variety of applications of high intensity lasers,including the hot electron production for fast ignition of fusion targets, table-top bright X-ray and gamma-ray sources,ion acceleration, compact neutron sources, and generally the creation of high energy density matters. Normally, some absorption mechanisms found for nanosecond long laser pulses also appear for ultrashort laser pulses. The peculiar aspects with ultrashort laser pulses are that their absorption depends significantly on the preplasma condition and the initial target structures. Meanwhile, relativistic nonlinearity and ponderomotive force associated with the laser pulses lead to new mechanisms or phenomena, which are usually not found with nanosecond long pulses. In this paper, we present an overview of the recent progress on the major absorption mechanisms in intense laser–solid interactions, where emphasis is paid to our related theory and simulation studies.

PM567-Doped solid dye lasers based on PMMA

Polymers are a kind of attractive hosts for laser dyes due to their high transparency in both pumping and lasing ranges and superior optical homogeneity. In this paper solid dye samples based on polymethyl methacrylate （PMMA） doped with different concentrations of 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 -pentamethyl-2, 6-diethylpyrromethene-BF2 （PM567） are prepared. The absorption, fluorescence and lasing spectra of the samples are obtained. Wide absorption and fluorescence bands are obtained and a red shift of the maxima of the lasing emission spectra is observed. With the second-harmonic generation of Q-switched Nd：YAC laser （532 nm, -20 ns） pumping the samples longitudinally, the slope efficiencies of the samples are obtained. There is an optimal dye concentration for the highest slope efficiency when the pumping energy is lower than some typical value （-250 mJ）, and the highest slope efficiency 35.6% is obtained in the sample with a dye concentration of 2 × 10^-4 mol/L. Pumping the samples at a rate of 10Hz with a pulse energy as high as 200 mJ （the fluence is 0.2 J/cm^2）, the output energy drops to one-half of its initial value after approximate 15500 pulses and the normalized photostability is 5.17CJ/mol. A kind of solid dye laser which could have some applications is built.

Energy transfer in solid-state dye lasers based on methyl methacrylate co-doped with sulforhodamine B and crystal violet

Laser action in methyl methacrylate （MMA） co-doped with sulforhodamine B and crystal violet dyes was investi- gated. The dye mixture was incorporated into a solid polymeric matrix and was pumped by a 532-nm Nd：YAG laser. Distributed feedback dye laser （DFDL） action was induced in the dye mixture using a prism arrangement both in the donor and acceptor regions by an energy transfer mechanism. Theoretically, the characteristics of acceptor and donor DFDLs, and the dependence of their pulse widths and output powers on acceptor-donor concentrations and pump power, were studied. Experimentally, the output energy of DFDL was measured at the emission peaks of donor and acceptor dyes for different pump powers and different acceptor-donor concentrations. Tuning of the output wavelength was achieved by varying the period of the gain modulation of the laser medium. The laser wavelength showed continuous tunability from 563 nm to 648 nm.

Laser Solid Forming Repairing and Remanufacturing of High Strength Steel

Laser solid forming (LSF) is an advanced manufacture technology developed from early 1990s, which can realize the rapid manufacturing high performance near-net-shaping complicated metallic components with full-dense directly. Currently this technology has been widely used for rapid manufacturing of metal parts, repairing and remanufacturing service of large parts with defects in aerospace, energy, transportation industry etc. In present paper, the main progresses on the research and application of LSF are reviewed, and the emphasis has been focused on manufacturing high performance high strength steel metal parts. The results of LSFed high strength steel samples show that the comprehensive mechanical properties are usually in the classes of forging parts, which the dense, fine and homogeneous microstructure in LSFed parts, especially, high strength steel parts with metallurgical-defects-free can be obtained by careful optimizing the forming and heat treatment parameter. To realize the high performance repairing and remanufacturing of the high strength steel component is one of the most remarkable progress for LSF recently. The mechanical properties of the repaired and remanufacturing parts by LSF can reach the wrought standards only with annealing treatment. It is believed that the repair and remanufacturing of high performance metallic components by LSF should be one of the most promising applications for LSF in the coming future.

Infrared Laser Pumped Green and Blue Laser Emissions from a Single Solid State Material Doped by Rare Earth Ions

The possible ways and progress of infrared or red laser pumped green and blue laser emissions from a single solid state material doped by rare earth ions are outlined. The green and blue lasers realized from infrared laser pumped rare earth doped nonlinear laser crystals by means of self frequency conversion and from infrared laser pumped rare earth doped bulk, fiber and microsphere materials by means of frequency upconversion are introduced in detail. Other kinds of devices and methods are also compared. The typical nonlinear laser crystals such as YAl 3(BO 3) 4, GdAl 3(BO 3) 4, YCa 4O(BO 3) 3 , GdCa 4O(BO 3) 3, and the typical upconversion fluoride fibers are compared and analyzed. The major problems remaining to be solved and the developing trends in the area are also discussed.

An all-solid-state high power quasi-continuous-wave tunable dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system using birefringence filter

This paper describes a tunable dual-wavelength Ti：sapphire laser system with quasi-continuous-wave and high-power outputs. In the design of the laser, it adopts a frequency-doubled Nd：YAG laser as the pumping source, and the birefringence filter as the tuning element. Tunable dual-wavelength outputs with one wavelength range from 700 nm to 756.5 nm, another from 830 nm to 900mn have been demonstrated. With a pump power of 23 W at 532 nm, a repetition rate of 7 kHz and a pulse width of 47.6 ns, an output power of 5.1 W at 744.8 nm and 860.9 nm with a pulse width of 13.2 ns and a line width of 3 nm has been obtained, it indicates an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 22.2%.

Thermal Analysis of Blue Laser Diode for Solid State Lighting Application

Solid-state light sources based on laser diode are becoming great alternative for LEDs. Improvement of the thermal characteristics of InGaN LD is very important for realizing reliable devices. In this investigation the influence of the temperature of diode on light parameters was studied. White light was obtained by coupling blue light of diode with yellow phosphors: YAG:Ce3+ and GYAG:Ce3+ with nitride. For three values of the temperature of LD’s stem, regulated by Peltier module, CCT, CRI and chromaticity coordinates were measured by spectroradiometer. The importance of emission characteristics of materials was shown. Subsequently, the influence of temperature on laser diode intensity was investigated for 120 hours. This experiment was repeated for different levels of current and temperature. Finally, the steady state of thermal finite element analysis was performed to reveal the distribution of the temperature. The analysis showed the importance of heat sink and also temperature control.

Analytical modelling of end thermal coupling in a solid-state laser longitudinally bonded by a vertical-cavity top-emitting laser diode

The intrinsic features involving a circularly symmetric beam profile with low divergence, planar geometry as well as the increasingly enhanced power of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers （VCSELs） have made the VCSEL a promising pump source in direct end bonding to a solid-state laser medium to form the minimized, on-wafer integrated laser system. This scheme will generate a surface contact pump configuration and thus additional end thermal coupling to the laser medium through the joint interface of both materials, apart from pump beam heating. This paper analytically models temperature distributions in both VCSEL and the laser medium from the end thermal coupling regarding surface contact pump configuration using a top-emitting VCSEL as the pump source for the first time. The analytical solutions are derived by introducing relative temperature and mean temperature expressions. The results show that the end contact heating by the VCSEL could lead to considerable temperature variations associated with thermal phase shift and thermal lensing in the laser medium. However, if the central temperature of the interface is increased by less than 20 K, the end contact heating does not have a significant thermal influence on the laser medium. In this case, the thermal effect should be dominated by pump beam heating. This work provides useful analytical results for further analysis of hybrid thermal effects on those lasers pumped by a direct VCSEL bond.