Designing pulse laser surface modification of H13 steel using response surface method

This paper presents a design of experiment (DOE) for laser surface modification process of AISI H13 tool steel in achieving the maximum hardness and minimum surface roughness at a range of modified layer depth. A Rofin DC-015 diffusion-cooled CO2 slab laser was used to process AISI H13 tool steel samples. Samples of 10 mm diameter were sectioned to 100 mm length in order to process a predefined circumferential area. The parameters selected for examination were laser peak power, overlap percentage and pulse repetition frequency (PRF). The response surface method with Box-Behnken design approach in Design Expert 7 software was used to design the H13 laser surface modification process. Metallographic study and image analysis were done to measure the modified layer depth. The modified surface roughness was measured using two-dimensional surface profilometer. The correlation of the three laser processing parameters and the modified surface properties was specified by plotting three-dimensional graph. The hardness properties were tested at 981 mN force. From metallographic study, the laser modified surface depth was between 37 8m and 150 8m. The average surface roughness recorded from the 2D profilometry was at a minimum value of 1.8 8m. The maximum hardness achieved was between 728 and 905 HV0.1.These findings are significant to modern development of hard coatings for wear resistant applications

An overview of laser surface modification of die steels

In recent years, surface modification using advanced heat source like laser has been replacing the conventional methods to produce amorphous microstructure via rapid solidification. Due to the benefits of laser to enhance the tribological and mechanical properties of materials’ surface, several laser surface processing were developed including laser surface modification, namely laser alloying, transformation hardening, surface amorphization, shock hardening and glazing. In high temperature applications, the laser surface modification technique is beneficial to prolong the die life cycle, and also to improve the surface roughness of thermal barrier coatings (TBC). To produce the amorphous layer at a particular depth, laser parameter such as irradiance, frequency, and exposure time are controlled. Variations of parameter may result in modified microhardness properties of heat affected zone and transition zone. Nevertheless, works on laser glazing of bearings, railroad rails and TBC had proven the surface properties were enhanced through laser glazing to cope with excessive load, wear, fatigue, bending and friction demand

Thermal stability of laser treated die material for semi-solid metal forming

This paper presents laser surface modification work performed to improve the lifetime of die materials. Die material AISI H13, with typical hardness in the range of 42 to 48 HRC, offers high wear and corrosion resistance. However the cyclic high temperature conditions along with exposure to high viscosity molten metal in semi-solid forming cause the die to wear and crack with resultant shortened die lifetime. In this study, the thermal stability of die material at elevated temperature was investigated through micro-hardness testing and a metallographic study. AISI H13 samples were laser glazed using CO2 continuous wave mode laser with 10.6 μm wavelength. Samples were attached to a specially designed rotating chuck to enable it to be rotated at speeds up to 1500 rpm and allow flat surface glazing to take place. The micro-hardness was measured for as-glazed samples and annealed samples which were held at temperatures ranging from 550oC to 800oC with 50oC intervals. The metallographic study conducted examined the formation of three zones at different depths which were the glazed zone, the heat affected zone and the substrate. As a result of rapid heating and cooling from the laser glazing process, a metallic glass layer was developed which exhibited an average micro-hardness of 900 HV when exposed to 3.34E+10 W/m2 laser irradiance within a range of 0.0011 to 0.0018 s exposure time. Crystallization in glazed zone increased as the annealing temperature increased. As the annealing temperature reached above approximately 600oC, the micro-hardness decreased to approximately 600 HV (equivalent to approx. 54 HRC) due to local crystallization. These findings show potential direct application of glazed dies for non-ferrous semi-solid forming and the requirement for thermal barrier protection for application at higher temperatures

Atomic diffusion in laser surface modified AISI H13 steel

This paper presents a laser surface modification process of AISI H13 steel using 0.09 and 0.4 mm of laser spot sizes with an aim to increase surface hardness and investigate elements diffusion in laser modified surface. A Rofin DC-015 diffusion-cooled CO2 slab laser was used to process AISI H13 steel samples. Samples of 10 mm diameter were sectioned to 100 mm length in order to process a predefined circumferential area. The parameters selected for examination were laser peak power, pulse repetition frequency (PRF), and overlap percentage. The hardness properties were tested at 981 mN force. Metallographic study and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) were performed to observe presence of elements and their distribution in the sample surface. Maximum hardness achieved in the modified surface was 1017 HV0.1. Change of elements composition in the modified layer region was detected in the laser modified samples. Diffusion possibly occurred for C, Cr, Cu, Ni, and S elements. The potential found for increase in surface hardness represents an important method to sustain tooling life. The EDXS findings signify understanding of processing parameters effect on the modified surface composition

Optimization of Pulsed Nd:YAG Laser Melting of Gray Cast Iron At Different Spot Sizes for Enhanced Surface Properties

This paper presents a laser surface modification process of gray cast iron using different laser spot size with an aims to eliminate graphite phase and achieve minimum surface roughness and maximum depth of molten zone and microhardness properties. The laser processing was conducted using JK300HPS Nd:YAG twin lamp laser source pulse TEM 00 mode, 50 W average power, 1064 nm wavelength and different laser spot sizes of 1.0 mm, 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm and 1.7 mm. Three controlled parameter were peak power (Pp), pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and traverse speed (v). Increasing spot size the parameter setting where peak power is increased and pulse repetition frequency and traverse speed is decreased. The modified surface of laser surface melting was characterized for metallographic study, surface roughness and hardness. Metallographic study and surface morphology were conducted using optical microscope while hardness properties were measured using Vickers scale. Surface roughness was measured using a 2D stylus profilometer. From metallographic study, the graphite phase was totally eliminated from the molten zone and formed white zone. This phenomenon affected hardness properties of the modified surface where maximum hardness of 955.8 HV0.1 achieved. Optimization of laser surface modification was conducted for minimum surface roughness and maximum depth of modified layer and hardness properties. From the optimization, the higher desirability is 0.902. The highest depth of molten zone obtain from spot size 1.4 mm at 132 µm and the highest hardness is 989 HV0.1 at laser’s spot size 1.0 mm. The surface roughness increased when the spot size increased from 3.10 µm to 7.31 µm. These finding indicate potential application of enhanced gray cast iron in high wear resistance automotive components such as cylinder liner and break disc

Laser Surface Modification of H13 Die Steel using Different Laser Spot Sizes

This paper presents a laser surface modification process of AISI H13 tool steel using three sizes of laser spot with an aim to achieve reduced grain size and surface roughness. A Rofin DC'015 diffusion'cooled CO2 slab laser was used to process AISI H13 tool steel samples. Samples of 10 mm diameter were sectioned to 100 mm length in order to process a predefined circumferential area. The parameters selected for examination were laser peak power, overlap percentage and pulse repetition frequency (PRF). Metallographic study and image analysis were done to measure the grain size and the modified surface roughness was measured using two'dimensional surface profilometer. From metallographic study, the smallest grain sizes measured by laser modified surface were between 0.51 3m and 2.54 3m. The minimum surface roughness, Ra, recorded was 3.0 3m. This surface roughness of the modified die steel is similar to the surface quality of cast products. The grain size correlation with hardness followed the findings correlate with Hall'Petch relationship. The potential found for increase in surface hardness represents an important method to sustain tooling life

Thermal fatigue properties of laser treated steels

This paper presents the thermal fatigue resistance of laser treated steels. The C40 and AISI H13 steels were machined into a geometry which allowed thermal gradients on the inner and outer surface during testing. A CO2 laser system was used with a focused spot size of 0.09 mm on the sample surface. The laser peak power and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) range were set to 760 and 1515 W, and 2900 to 3500 Hz respectively. The thermal fatigue machine used consists of Nabertherm model cylindrical high temperature furnace with digital control panel, controlled temperature quenching system, and pneumatics control sample movement mechanism. The thermal fatigue test involved immersion of samples into molten aluminium, and quenched in ionised water emulsion at 17°C temperature. The quenching system equipped with thermocouple to control the water temperature. Testing was done at a total of 1,750 number of cycles. Internal surface cooling was controlled by water inlet and outlet tubes. Samples were cleaned using NaOH solution after thermal fatigue testing to remove oxides on the surface. The solution temperature and magnetic stirrer speed were set to 100°C and 4.5 rpm respectively. Samples were characterised using scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy discharge x-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and 2D stylus profilometer. Presence of different phases on the sample surface were analysed from back-scattered detector micrographs. Heat checks were observed on laser glazed surface at several regions. Carbides and oxides elements were detected on the sample surface after the thermal fatigue test. The relationship between surface roughness of laser treated surface and thermal fatigue behaviour was investigated

Laser Micro-Processing Of Amorphous And Partially Crystalline cu45Zr48Al7 Alloy

This paper presents a microstructural study of laser micro-processed high-purity Cu45Zr48Al7 alloys prepared by arc melting and Cu-mould casting. Microprocessing of the Cu45Zr48Al7 alloy was performed using a Rofin DC-015 diffusion-cooled CO2 slab laser system with 10.6-µm wavelength. The laser was defocused to a spot size of 0.2 mm on the sample surface. The laser parameters were set to give 300- and 350-Wpeak power, 30% duty cycle and a 3000-Hz laser pulse repetition frequency (PRF). About 100-micrometer-wide channels were scribed on the surfaces of disk-shaped amorphous and partially crystalline samples at traverse speeds of 500 and 5000 mm/min. These channels were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and 2D stylus profilometry. The metallographic study and profile of these processed regions are discussed in terms of the applied laser processing parameters. The SEM micrographs showed that striation marks developed at the edge and inside these regions as a result of the laser processing. The results from this work showed that microscale features can be produced on the surface of amorphous Cu–Zr–Al alloys by CO2 laser processing

Surface modification of HVOF thermal sprayed WC–CoCr coatings by laser treatment

In this work the affects of laser characteristics on microstructure and microhardness of high velocity oxygen fuel sprayed (HVOF) WC–CoCr coatings were investigated. The coating was deposited with a Sulzer Metco WokaJet™-400 kerosene fuel and the laser surface treatments were applied using CO2 laser with 10.6 μm wavelength. Large variations in surface properties were produced from variation in the laser processing parameters. In total, four levels of peak power (100, 200, 300 and 350 W), four levels of spot diameter (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 1 mm) and three levels of pulse repetition frequency (PRF) were investigated. An initial set of tests were followed by a more detailed 33 factorial design of experiments. Pulse repetition frequency and duty cycle were set in order to maintain the same overlap in the x and y directions for the raster scanned sample spot impact dimensions. Overlaps of 30% were used in the initial tests and 10% in the more detailed trials. The results have shown that care must be taken to keep the irradiance at a relatively low level compared to uncoated surfaces. High irradiance can in this case result in rough and porous surfaces. Lower levels of irradiance are shown to provide more uniform microstructures, reduced porosity and increased microhardness

Defining Digital Literacy in the Age of Computational Propaganda and Hate Spin Politics

In this era, people’s lives are intertwined with the Internet and digital media although society might have to bear potential negative effects of these platforms. Free flow of information and the rise of hate speech, fake news and disinformation on the Internet have no doubt increased social polarization. Furthermore, a new phenomenon has arisen, which combines hate speech with indignation or offence-taking, and that is hate spin. Hate spin uses hate speech and fake news as a weapon to gain access to political power. Hate spin is considered to be one of the biggest threats to any democratic country, including Indonesia. A relatively young democracy and its reputation for religious moderatism and diversity, Indonesia has not been immune to the hoax epidemic plaguing societies around the world recently. Scholars assume that improving digital literacy is the best solution against hate spin in Indonesia. However, the current concept of digital literacy has been limited as merely a matter of technical skill. This paper offers an analysis on how to define the contemporary digital literacy concept that has moved beyond basic Internet access, and on how the technology works and is used by political elites with evidence of computational propaganda delivered through political bots, fake accounts and false news during recent political events in Indonesia.     Keywords: digital literacy, computational propaganda, hate spin, Internet, politic