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In this study we report the influence of laser ablation on the controlled biodegradability of a Fe–Mn alloy developed for medical implants. After texturing by a nanosecond Nd:YAG laser, the surface expressed extreme super-hydrophilic wetting properties, since laser ablation led to micro-channels and chemical modification resulting in nanostructured metal oxides. The influence of functionalized surface properties on corrosion behavior was examined on molecular level by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Results reveal that the oxide layer after the laser texturing of Fe–Mn alloy consists mainly of Fe2O3 and FeO, with the content of Mn in the oxide layer being significantly higher than in the bulk. The results of the electrochemical measurements clearly demonstrate the superior biodegradability of the Fe–Mn alloy samples functionalized by laser ablation. Here, the laser-triggered corrosion is self-driven by further production of corrosion products that leads to biodegradability of the whole sample.

A Nd:YAG laser with 7-ns pulses and pulse energies up to 10 mJ is used to induce an optical breakdown in the front surface of an aluminum rod, covered by a water layer. The rod is part of a ballistic pendulum. In this way, we study the propulsion effects by means of coupling coefficient and energy-conversion efficiency with respect to different confining geometries, volumes of water applied to the front surface of the rod, and the distance of this surface from the laser-beam focus. Holes with different dimensions are drilled on the target surface and filled with different volumes of water to examine the influence of the confinement by the liquid (a free boundary) and a solid-surface geometry on laser ablation effects. The rod movement and the water ejection after laser ablation are acquired by a high-speed camera with 10k frames per second. The results show that the confinement by cavity substantially increases the propulsion effects by shaping the ejected flow of the liquid; while the cavitation bubble, induced inside the water layer, plays a significant role in propulsion efficiency. From the presented results, it follows that the laser-propelled rod carries below 0.5% of the total mechanical energy after propulsion, while the rest of this energy represents the kinetic energy of the ablated water. As expected, moving the target surface away from the focal position decreases the ablative-propulsion efficiency. When the focus is moved inside the solid target, the decrease occurs due to lower conversion of the pulse energy into the energy of the cavitation bubble. If the focus is moved from the surface outward, the bubble moves towards the liquid–gas interface and it is not able to efficiently eject all the liquid from the target.

We investigate the overall temporal behavior of the bubbles produced by 20-ns- and 100-ns-pulse-duration laser ablations in water using a laser-beam-transmission probe (LBTP). This technique gives the transmission signal attributed to the whole bubble dynamics, including the secondary oscillations, with a single laser shot. Comparing the signals obtained for both pulse durations, the periods of the first oscillation of the bubble are almost the same. Nevertheless, the periods of the subsequent oscillations are significantly different depending on the pulse duration. Such results are obtained by virtue of the LBTP technique.