A study of laser surface modification of polymers: A comparison in air and water

Deepak Marla*, Sebastian A. Andersen, Yang Zhang, Jesper H. Hattel, Jon Spangenberg

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Laser surface modification is a technique to modify polymer surfaces for various applications. In our earlier work [Physics Procedia, 83:211–217, 2016], we showed that when the laser surface modification process was carried out in water instead of air, the obtained surface characteristics were remarkably different, which led to a significant improvement in the metal deposition characteristics using electroless plating. In this work, we try to explain the underlying fundamental mechanisms that contribute to this improvement in surface characteristics through concurrent experimental and modeling research. The observed images of laser modified surfaces suggest that a hemispherical hump is formed in the case of water at lower laser fluences that breakup with an increase in fluence. Such a behavior was not observed when the process was carried out in air. We explain this phenomenon by simulating the temperature profiles in the polymer during the laser heating process in air and water. The results suggest that subsurface heating effects occur when the process is carried out in water. We further argue that this phenomenon is mainly responsible for the formation of the complex structure that was observed in our previous work.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Manufacturing Processes
    Volume32
    Pages (from-to)432-437
    ISSN1526-6125
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Keywords

    • Laser
    • Polymers
    • Subsurface heating
    • Surface modification
    • Finite difference method

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'A study of laser surface modification of polymers: A comparison in air and water'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
    • COFUNDPostdocDTU: COFUNDPostdocDTU

      Præstrud, M. R. (Project Participant) & Brodersen, S. W. (Project Participant)

      01/01/201431/12/2019

      Project: Research

    Cite this