Laser Modification of the Wettability Characteristics of Engineering Materials

The techniques available to engineers for the modification of a material’s wettability characteristics are invariably extremely complex and difficult to control. The use of lasers, however, has been shown to provide a clean, accurate and versatile way of modifying and improving the wettability characteristics of a wide range of engineering materials. Lawrence and Li have amply demonstrated the pracitability of employing different types of lasers to effect changes in the wettability characteristics of a number of engineering materials of ceramics, metals and plastics for improved adhesion and bonding. Laser Modification of the Wettability Characteristics of Engineering Materials makes extensive and comparative studies of the behaviour and properties of composite, ceramic, metallic and polymeric materials. The final chapter, practical applications of the use of lasers in modifying material behaviour, is particularly useful as it puts this cutting edge research in industrial context. The authors have extended the scope of their industrially based research to present a very useful, coherent source for engineers. This volume should be of value to those engineers and materials technologists working in industry or research institutions interested in the latest developments of property manipulation. Tribologists, surface technologists, those concerned with protective coatings and bonding materials, as well as anyone interested in laser technology, opto-electronics, marking and laser engraving should find Laser Modification a useful guide.