Laser Treatment of Pure Titanium Surface in Various Irradiated Media: Investigating Hardness Properties of Ablated Ti Surface

Titanium (Ti) has poor tribological and mechanical properties such as low hardness and wear resistance. In this study, we considerably improve Ti’s hardness by laser ablation method. Ambient air, N2 gas chamber and N2/liquid water environments were separately selected as irradiation environments and their effect was comparatively studied on Ti treatment surfaces. The fabrication of titanium nitride (TiN) structure was successfully confirmed by XRD analysis in N2 gas and N2/liquid water as irradiation media. Accordingly, there was good adhesion between TiN structure and Ti’s surface. Vickers hardness test indicated the laser treatment and TiN structure significantly improved Ti’s hardness. The formed TiN structure in N2/liquid water environment had the highest hardness value of 530Hv comparing to hardness of ablated Ti in N2 gas (370Hv) and air (340Hv). The escalation of Ti hardness and generation of TiN structure with lasertreatment in N2/liquid water environment is a favorable aspect of this method.