Laser surface preparation for adhesive improvement of Ti6Al4V

Titanium alloys are generally noticed for their high specific strength and their good corrosion resistance. They are widely used in light-weight structures especially in the aerospace industry. Surface preparation of Ti6Al4V for bonding improvement is conventionally performed by chemical, electrochemical pre-treatments (chromic acid anodizing, phosphate-fluoride, sol-gel,…) and/or sandblasting in order to modify the morphology and the chemistry of the surface. However, these processes produce a large volume of hazardous chemical or abrasive waste. They require high technical efforts and are therefore economically and environmentally inefficient. Laser processes could lead to a good alternative solution in terms of eco-compatibility, repeatability and ease of manufacturing. In this paper, we report on the latest developments of the collaboration between ALPhANOV and I2M institute on the laser surface preparation for adhesive bonding improvement of Ti6Al4V. We focus our investigations on the effect of pulsed laser irradiation (fluence, scan speed and lateral overlap) with a visible (515 nm) nanosecond "rod-type fibre" laser on the surface morphology and its bonding behaviour (cohesive or adhesive failure). The penetration of the adhesive in the roughness induced by laser irradiation was characterized. For this study, the surfaces were inspected by different means as optical microscopy, 3D profilometer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The adhesion performance of the laser treated surface was evaluated by means of DCB tests.