https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-025-00985-0
Regular Article - Plasma Physics
Microstructural and plasma characteristics of Mg alloy irradiated by 1064 nm Nd: YAG laser in neon and helium
1
Department of Physics, National Excellence Institute (University), 04524, Islamabad, Pakistan
2
Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100, Caserta, Italy
3
Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, University of Engineering and Technology New Campus, KSK, Pakistan
4
Department of Physics, University of Kotli Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 11100, Kotli, Pakistan
a
muhammadasad.khan@unicampania.it
Received:
4
October
2024
Accepted:
11
March
2025
Published online:
11
April
2025
The study investigates the effects of varying laser fluence on surface changes and plasma characteristics of magnesium (Mg) alloy. A 1064 nm Nd: YAG laser with a 10 ns pulse length and a repetition rate of 1 to 10 Hz was used to irradiate Mg-alloy targets. Fluences ranged from 1.3 to 10.47 J cm−2 in neon (Ne) and helium (He) environments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that micro-holes, ridges, conical structures, micro-particles, cracking and micro-grains have been found on the irradiated Mg targets. The formation of structures is more pronounced and distinct in the case of Ne (with higher electron temperature and electron density) as compared to the He environment. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measured plasma properties, specifically electron temperature (Te) and number density (ne), both of which increased with fluence. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to examine phase purity and structural attributes, aiding in material behavior exploration and the development of novel materials. The hardness of irradiated Mg targets, measured using a Vickers micro-hardness tester, exceeded that of the pristine Mg target. The study demonstrates that Te and ne significantly impact the increase in hardness and the formation of surface structures in Mg alloy.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
