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Nd:YAG laser surface melting of aluminium alloy 6013 for improving pitting corrosion fatigue resistance

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Abstract

Laser surface treatment of aluminium alloy 6013 was conducted with the aim of improving the alloy’s resistance to pitting corrosion fatigue. The study showed that laser melting using a high power Nd:YAG laser increased the resistance of the alloy to pitting corrosion and pitting corrosion fatigue. As corrosion pits are favourable sites for the initiation of fatigue cracks, and the process of crack initiation often takes up most of the fatigue life, especially at low stress levels, a high pitting corrosion resistance resulted from the laser treatment improved fatigue crack initiation resistance. With regard to fatigue crack propagation, although interdendritic boundaries are vulnerable to corrosion attacks due to the presence of second phase particles, nonetheless, due to the nature of the rough and undulating fracture surface, fatigue growth would be retarded. Under the present experimental conditions, the improvement in corrosion resistance brought about by laser surface melting was found to prevail over the adverse effect caused by the residual stresses induced by laser melting.

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Acknowledgements

The work described in this article was substantially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project no. PolyU 5274/03E). The financial support from the Research Committee of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Centre, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    W. L. Xu, T. M. Yue & H. C. Man

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  1. W. L. Xu
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  2. T. M. Yue
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  3. H. C. Man
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Correspondence to T. M. Yue.

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Xu, W.L., Yue, T.M. & Man, H.C. Nd:YAG laser surface melting of aluminium alloy 6013 for improving pitting corrosion fatigue resistance. J Mater Sci 43, 942–951 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-2208-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-2208-3

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