Laser application in high temperature materials

The scope and priorities of laser application in materials science and technology are attracting widespread interest. After a brief discussion of the unique capabilities of laser application in the various fields of materials science, main emphasis is given on the three areas of materials processing, surface modification and alloying, and property measurements at high temperatures. In materials processing the operational regimes for surface hardening, drilling, welding and laser glazing are discussed. Surface modifications by laser melting, quenching and surface alloying, the formation of solid solutions, metastable phases and amorphous solids on the basis of rapid solidification, ion implantation and ion beam mixing are considered. The influence of solidificaton rates and interface velocities on the surface properties are given. The extension of property measurements up to and beyond the melting point of refractory materials into their critical region by a transient-t pe dynamic laser measurement, density and heat capacity determination in the solid and liquid phases. A new approach, the laser autoclave technique, applying laser heating and x-ray shadow technique under autoclave conditions to acoustically levitated spheres will be presented. pulse heating technique is given for the three examples o fy vapour pressure