Laser Marking of Titanium Coating for Aerospace Applications

In the aerospace industry, in order to ensure the identification and the traceability of the products, high repeatability, non-invasive and durable marking processes are required. Laser marking is one of the most advanced marking technologies. Compared to traditional marking processes, like punches, microdot, scribing or electric discharge pencil etcher, laser marking offers several advantages, such us: non-contact working, high repeatability, high scanning speed, mark width comparable to the laser spot dimension, high flexibility and high automation of the process itself. In order to assure the mark visibility for the component lifetime, an appropriate depth of the mark is required. In this way, a stable behaviour is ensured also when the component operates in aggressive environments (i.e. in presence of oxidation, corrosion and wear phenomena). The mark depth is strongly affected by the laser source kind and by the process parameters, such us average power, pulse frequency and scanning speed. Moreover, an excessive mark penetration could cause stress concentrations and reduce the fatigue life of the component. Consequently, an appropriate selection of the process parameters is required in order to assure visibility and to avoid excessive damage. Cold Spray Deposition (CSD) is a relative new technology that allows to produce surface coatings without significant substrate temperature increasing. In aeronautics fields this technology is useful to coat materials sensible to temperature, such as solution tempered aluminum alloy, with a titanium layer. Aim of the work is to characterize the laser marking process on CSD Ti coating, in order to study the influence of the laser marking process parameters (pulse power and scanning speed), on the groove geometry of the marking. The experimental marking tests were carried out through a 30 W MOPA Q-Switched Yb:YAG fibre laser; under different process conditions. The groove geometry was measured through a HIROX HK9700 optical microscope. The results showed the effectiveness of the laser process to produce high quality marks on the titanium layer. Moreover, a correlation between the process parameters and the mark's geometry was clearly observed.