Corrélation entre les conditions de traitement thermique par laser co2 de puissance et les modifications structurales de surface d'alliage de titane TA6V

The transfer of electromagnetic wave energy to the metallic material is done by an exchange between the laser photons and the lattice electrons via the inverse bremstrahlung. This process induces the passage of an electron from the valence to the conduction band in which it becomes free and energetic and it provokes, by collision with others electrons of the crystal lattice, the heating of the sample surfaces. The laser energy is then transformed, at the surface, into thermal energy (heat) which diffuses into the sample. For the same kind of materials with surfaces prepared in the same conditions, only laser beam parameters vary, following the relation: Qs = P τ / S, where Qs is the specific energy at the lighted surface, P the power of the laser, τ the interaction time and S the surface lighted by the laser beam. This factor indicates if the laser treatments are done without microstructural modification of the samples or with melting of the material surface. The martensitic phase α' obtained after the laser treatment is metastable, with a small grain size compared to those obtained with the classical thermal treatments. The size of α' grains depends on the energy density (Qs = P τ / S ) received by the specimen from the laser wave.