Aluminum particle production on alumina rod surface by continuous-wave laser ablation

Seiya Tanaka, Naoki Tanaka, Kimiya Komurasaki, Rei Kawashima, Hiroyuki Koizumi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Continuous-wave laser ablation has been applied to alumina reduction with the eventual goal of lunar resource utilization. Aluminum particles were detected on the alumina rod surface after laser ablation. Impurity precipitation has been proposed as the aluminum particle production mechanism. For this study, distributions of aluminum particles and temperatures after laser ablation on an alumina rod surface were measured using SEM and two-color method. Laser power affected the aluminum particle distribution. The mean aluminum particle radius varied: 0.11–1.7 μm. The minimum value was consistent with the critical radius for aluminum nucleation in heterogeneous nucleation. The time history of surface temperatures was found to be independent of laser power. Therefore, aluminum particle production is expected to change with oxygen deficiency, and to increase with laser power. The obtained condition for aluminum particle production is applicable for an aluminum collection system in the alumina reduction method using laser ablation: the plate temperature of T = 933–2300 K and the cooling rate of 600–800 K/s.

Original languageEnglish
Article number125557
JournalMaterials Chemistry and Physics
Volume278
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022 Feb 15
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Impurity precipitation
  • Metal
  • Oxygen deficiency
  • Scanning electron microscope

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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