LASER SURFACE-TREATMENT DOMINATED BY BUOYANCY FLOWS

An experimental setup is investigated wherein surface tension forces are suppressed during laser treatment and the melt pool convection is controlled by buoyancy forces. The structure of surfaces processed by this method differs from those of conventionally treated surfaces. A dimensionless measure of buoyancy-flow strength, namely the Grashof number, is employed to quantify the flow intensity that is linked to the breakdown of the covering particle coating. Using a two-dimensional numerical approach the flow and temperature fields are computed.