ABSTRACT
In this work, new method for surface treatment of the material by laser irradiation was
investigated; the experimental works were conducted to study the effect of laser
irradiation on the improvement of the mechanical properties of the alloys. Excimer
laser at 193nm were used at the same power of 6mJ and repetition rate of 200 Hz.
Nanoindentation technique was used to determine film hardness, stiffness and elastic
modulus using a nano test instrument form with diamond indenter. The peak loads in
the range 1 – 200 mN were used, with variable loading rate in proportion to the peak
loads starting at a value of 0.05 mN/s. The hardness and reduced modulus have been
determined from these indentation curves using a method originally proposed by
Oliver and Pharr, which fits a power-law function to the unloading curve. The
qualitative method of microstructure analysis of the samples has been examined
before and after laser irradiation at different test conditions to explain the change in
mechanical properties according to the change in microstructure features.