INCREASING OF CORROSION RESISTANCE OF STEEL BY MEANS OF LASER TREATMENT

The article is devoted to the investigation of the possibility of increasing the corrosion resistance of steel. The results of experiments on laser processing of model samples from carbon steel by radiation of continuous wave ytterbium fiber laser at a wavelength of 1.06 μm are described. It is shown that laser processing makes it possible to form stable protective films 2…3 m thick on the steel surface, which increase the anticorrosive properties of the metal. One of the possible reasons for increasing the corrosion resistance of steel is the microstructuring of its surface with the formation of a thin film of iron carbide (Fe₃C), which is created as a result of heating in the temperature range from 600 to 1000 °C. In addition, the effect of laser radiation leads to a decrease in the surface roughness (with R_a = 0.53 μm to R_a = 0.48 μm). The optimal (in terms of the degree of corrosion resistance) treatment of steel corresponds to the level of the power density of laser radiation 1.5×105 W/cm². The conducted studies allow us to conclude that the use of continuous fiber lasers is a promising way to improve the corrosion resistance of carbon steel.

Authors: Yu. S. Ruzankina, V. A. Parfenov, O. S. Vasiliev

Direction: Instrument Engineering and Information-Measurement Technologies

Keywords: Metal treatment, anti-corrosion, laser micro structuring, steel treatment, fiber laser

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