RSM Based Experimental Investigation and Analysis into Laser Surface Texturing on Titanium using Pulsed Nd:YAG Laser

Recently, production of defined surfaces with required tribological properties in different biomedical materials is in high demand. Amongst various non-traditional machining processes, laser surface texturing is a novel machining technique by which this type of tribological surfaces can be generated efficiently and effectively. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to carry out experimentation and analysis in laser surface texturing process on commercially available pure titanium material employing a pulsed Nd:YAG laser system. Response surface methodology (RSM) based design of experiments was implemented to conduct the experiments and further analysis of results obtained. Utilizing four process variables, each has five levels, experiments were conducted based on laser scanning methodology and surface roughness (Ra and Rz) were measured. Empirical models were also developed for establishing relationships between process parameters and performance criteria. Multi-objective optimization was conducted to achieve minimum value of surface roughness and contact angle. (paper)