Melting and solidification processes in a moving graphite-covered titanium surface subjected to multi-pulse laser irradiation

Experimental results of surface melting by pulsed Nd-YAG laser irradiation of titanium covered with graphite powder were analysed in comparison with the results of numerical simulations. The simulations of the thermal events, such as the maximum of temperature gradient at the surface and the duration of the liquid state after irradiation, were found due to a semi-analytic model of the space-time temperature distributions which were induced by the irradiation treatments. These simulations were required in order to calculate a series of integrals by Simpson's numerical method. They have allowed us to explain the experimental results such as the incorporation of carbon in melted zone, which produces titanium carbide and possible graphite inclusions, as a function of the irradiation parameters. The perpetual absence in the thickness and the exceptional presence at the surface of the solidification structure resulting from the plane-front growth of titanium carbide have, moreover, been justified.