Surface effects in Cu0.64Zn0.36 alloy produced by CO2 laser treatment

The surface cleaning of naturally corroded Cu0.64Zn0.36 alloy was carried out using a CO2 laser. The thermal coupling between the laser light and corroded surface permits the strong absorption, which produces physical, chemical and morphological modifications. The morphological variations were detected by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Physical and chemical changes were analyzed using hardness measurements, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). As result of the treatments, the corrosion layers are removed, modified or unaffected by laser depending on their chemical composition.