Surface structure modification of additively manufactured titanium components via femtosecond laser micromachining

With the recent rise of laser additive manufacturing (AM), it has become critical to streamline the process from concept to the finished component. In this paper we demonstrate novel capabilities achieved through post-processing of the laser AM part by femtosecond laser micromachining. For the first time, we show surface roughness values can be reduced by a factor of five in an efficient single pass process, nanogratings can be written into the surface for encoding numerical information, and finally, the surface as printed (SAP) can be altered to produce micro-cone structures which can change surface wetting properties.