Thermochemical laser etching of stainless steel and titanium in liquids

Laser-induced wet chemical etching of stainless steel 304 and Ti in phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid and aqueous KOH has been investigated using cw Ar and cw Nd : YAG lasers. Two different phases of laser-induced etching of Ti in phosphoric acid were found by electrochemical investigations. Laser-enhanced electrochemical dissolution of stainless steel was observed in the passivation and transpas sivation region. In the latter case, laser heating accelerates the metal dissolution. In the passivation region, laser heating results in a breakthrough of the passivation layer near the Flade potential. By multiple scanning microstructures of high quality and an aspect ratio > 10 have been produced. By EDX analysis the laser-etching process was found to be practically free of chemical residues on etched surfaces.