Assessment of the Thermal Effect on the Surface of Metal Structural Materials on the Stability of Laser-Induced Codes Readability

Abstract

This work represents the characterization of materials surface before and after laser processing with macrophotography, optical metallography, and scanning electron microscopy before and after thermal exposure. The factors influencing the reliability of the laser-induced code readability have been determined as color and contrast. The range of stability of the code readability under thermal influence on the structural materials under study was determined, which allows improving the reliability of the laser-induced marking codes readability. The research objects in this paper were samples of the following materials: alloys based on copper, aluminum, and iron with laser-induced codes of various types applied on the surface. This work aimed to research the stability of laser-induced codes readability after thermal exposure using macrophotography, optical metallography and scanning electron microscopy on structural materials of various purposes before and after laser processing (when forming a binary matrix code). The research results obtained and presented in this article on the stability of laser-induced codes reading under thermal action on structural materials can be used in different fields of industry, when marking products of heavy, general, medium, and precision engineering, as well as for marking metal products and blank parts. The results of this research are also planned to be used for further analysis of the occurring damage, leading to reading errors due to mechanical and chemical influences. It is planned to evaluate the limit values of the parameters that determine the degree of degradation at which the encoding will be considered to have lost the recognizing ability. Requirements for the quality and permissible code damage will also be developed to ensure their reliable identification.