Picosecond laser-induced nanopillar coverage of entire mirror-polished surfaces of Ti6Al4V alloy

Abstract The goal of this study was to investigate a study for the efficient generation of pillar-like nanostructure (nanopillar) on a material surface over a large area. In this research, a vertical cross-scanning (VCS) strategy using two linearly-polarized lasers with different laser conditions was proposed for the generation of nanopillars on a mirror-polished surface on a large scale. It found that the laser fluence and scanning speed of the second laser scanning should be controlled within a specific range to generate the nanopillars. Additionally, the distance between scan lines, which is defined as hatch distance, h, of the second scan, is also a non-negligible factor to induce nanopillars to cover the entire surface. This work demonstrated that the VCS method is a feasible strategy for the fabrication of nanopillars on the entire mirror-polished surface of Ti6Al4V alloy by linearly-polarized picosecond laser conveniently and efficiently.