Characterization of Titanium Oxide Layers Formation Produced by Nanosecond Laser Coloration

Laser marking technique is used to produce colors on titanium while scanning a metallic sample under normal atmospheric conditions. To proceed with different operating conditions related to the laser beam, the parameters of a Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG (lambda = 532 nm) laser, with a pulse duration of tau = 5 ns, are varied. The effect on the resulting mark quality is the aim of the present study which is developed to determine the influence of the operating parameters (i.e., pulse frequency, beam scanning speed, and pumping intensity) and furthermore their combination, such as the accumulated fluences and the overlapping rate of laser impacts. From the obtained experimental results, it is noted that the accumulated fluences and the scanning speed are the most influential operating parameters during laser marking, since they have a strong effect on the surface roughness and reflectance, and the occurrence of many oxide phases such as TiO, Ti2O3, TiO2 (gamma- phase, anatase, and rutile).