Direct Laser Interference Patterning

Many large components require specially treated surfaces for their functionality. These include metal plates that are electrochemically etched, an energy intensive process with a toxic effluent, and the "roughening" of composites to create better adhesive joints. The roughened surface ensures that the adhesive is well keyed to it for additional strength.
Laser processing offers a more efficient and cleaner way of creating these textures but is traditionally slow and has difficulty achieving fine textures. This project will demonstrate the use of high power lasers and a beam delivery that creates interference patterns to overcome these issues and provide a commercially viable, energy efficient and environmentally friendly surface processing technology with many applications in a wide range of manufacturing sectors.