Hardness enhancement by laser modification of titanium under an auxiliary graphite layer

The present article investigates the effect of graphite powder layers on the titanium surface layer during the treatment by the laser-induced plasma-assisted ablation method. Previous research mainly focuses on studying the effect of laser action on the quality of glass plate processing, rather than observing the changes in the substrate morphology caused by the treatment. Varying laser radiation parameters allowed obtaining the arrays of structures and determining the diagram of hardness values depending on the parameters of laser exposure. The method of laser treatment to increase the hardness of the surface layer under a graphite powder layer in contact with a dielectric transparent layer has been proposed and tested; the method has demonstrated a tenfold increase in the hardness of the surface layer. The results can be used in the improvement of cutting tools performance and applied in mechanical engineering or metalworking.