LASER ASSISTED SURFACE MELTING: TOWARDS LAYER DENSIFICATION.

Yttria stabilized zirconia films were prepared by sol-gel technique on Si substrates and sintered at 1200°C. Sol-gel method is simple, although it has a drawback - high porosity of the film. Laser irradiation is one of the promising ways to improve the density of layers. In this contribution, densification of the YSZ ceramic surface was performed by laser melting technique. Laser irradiation of a Q-switched diode-pumped nanosecond Nd:YAG laser (NL220/SH, Ekspla) which generated at the wavelength of 532 nm and a pulse length was of approximately 9 ns was used. Irradiated areas of YSZ layer were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light reflection spectroscopy (350 to 800 nm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]