Compositional and micro-scratch analyses of laser induced colored surface of titanium

• Laser surface processing strategies to obtain different colors.
• Compositional analyses of the oxide layers.
• Micro-scratch analyses of the different color surface.

Laser marking of metallic surface is a very important application for industry. It is revealed that controlled oxide layer generation above the treated surface leads to colored appearance of metals with interference effect. The oxide layer control is provided with laser and process parameters. In this study, different colors of the Grade 2 titanium samples have been obtained by varying the laser scanning speed. Chromaticity coordinates of the different color surface have been calculated from the reflectance spectrum of the samples. Compositional analyses have been performed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. To examine the mechanical properties of the surface, micro-scratch test has been applied to all the colored surfaces. Although delamination has been observed between two laser scanning speed as 950 mm/s and 450 mm/s, it can be said that the adhesion between the titanium substrate and the oxide coating is good.