<title>Laser plume dynamics during excimer laser nitriding of iron</title>

Abstract

Laser nitriding of iron is an interesting phenomenon both in physics and industry. On the time scale of hundreds nanoseconds, high intensity (≈108 W/cm²) pulsed excimer laser irradiation on iron in nitrogen atmosphere produced a thin iron nitride layer (thickness > 400 nm) with a mean nitrogen concentration exceeding 10 at which greatly improves the iron surface mechanical properties and the corrosion or erosion resistance. Laser plasma/plume plays a crucial role in the complicated interplay of the laser-plasma-metal system. Since the nitrogen pressure is one of the most important parameters determining the laser plume dynamics, a nitrogen pressure series ranging from 0.05 bar to 10 bar is conducted. The characteristic parameters of the nitrogen depth profile are extracted and their pressure dependence is qualitatively discussed. By isotopic experiments in ¹⁵N and natural nitrogen environment, the evolution of the nitrogen depth profile during laser nitriding process is successfully traced. Both of the experimental results suggested that a 1D laser supported combustion wave model is reasonable to describe the lasers plume dynamics.