Formation of titanium carbide on the titanium surface using laser ablation in n-heptane and investigating its corrosion resistance

Abstract Laser ablation of titanium in liquid (LAL) using a fiber laser was studied. Firstly, LAL was carried out in toluene, n-hexane, n-heptane, and acetone as liquid media at the same irradiation conditions. Samples were characterized by different diagnostic techniques X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that titanium carbide (TiC) structure has been generated on the surface of laser ablated samples in toluene, n-hexane, and n-heptane. Also, titanium dioxide was formed on the surface of laser ablated sample in acetone along with TiC. After that, n-heptane was chosen as the adequate liquid medium. LAL process was repeated in n-heptane for different ablation process times at the same irradiation conditions. Samples were investigated by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, EDS, nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), and cross sectional FESEM. It was concluded that the ablation process time of about 30 s is threshold time to form detectable TiC structure by XRD. Additionally, it was deduced that the amount of the carbon (in two forms of amorphous and carbidic) on the surface of the irradiated titanium for about 2 min (S8 sample) is more than the other samples. The corrosion behavior of samples was studied by electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS) tests. The EIS plots obtained after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h immersion time showed the corrosion resistance of S8 sample enhancement in Ringer's solution compared with the other samples, and the corrosion resistance of this sample increased by rising the immersion time up to 96 h.