Effect of laser surface modification on wear behavior of shape memory alloys

The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of laser surface modification on the surface wear behavior of shape memory alloy. For this purpose, NiTi shape memory alloy was processed using a femtosecond laser and then wear tests were performed. The pattern area density determined in surface patterning with the applied laser ablation process was 34%, and under 1N load, it caused a decrease of approximately 17% compared to the friction coefficient values of the samples without laser treatment. The decrease in COF value under 3N load was approximately 14%. These results show that processing NiTi SHA with femtosecond laser and increasing the applied load causes a decrease in COF values. The wear rate of NiTi SMA with laser surface texturing applied in dry environment was higher than the sample without laser application. It has been evaluated that this situation is due to thermal softening caused by the large ablation surface area.