Micro-dimple array fabricated on surface of Ti6Al4V with a masked laser ablation method in air and water

• Micro-dimple arrays were fabricated on a Ti6Al4V surface by masked laser ablation.
• Morphologies of micro-dimples in water and air were compared.
• Spatter deposition can be reduced greatly by masked laser ablation in water.

A method called masked laser ablation (MLA) was proposed to fabricate a micro-dimple array on a substrate surface with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Micro-dimple arrays were successfully fabricated on the surface of Ti6Al4V samples both in air and water. The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of processing parameters on the morphology of micro-dimples, spatter deposition, micro-dimple depth and ablation rate. Contrast experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of masks. Results showed that the shape of micro-dimples in air could be affected by the overlapping of spatter between the adjacent micro-dimples, while in water it is nearly copied from the mask. The bottom of the micro-dimple fabricated in water was coarse but the periphery was clean. The spatter deposition extremely depended on the laser intensity, pulse numbers and surroundings. Discussions about the existence of masks were carried on.

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