Publications

Abstract not provided.

Pulsed laser irradiation is used to irradiate and mark 13-8 steel and Nitronics 60 parts in order to create observable markings on the surfaces. The best optical contrast ratio between marked regions and unmarked regions is desired for digital image correlation. The contrast is optimized by using pulsed-laser irradiation and varying the laser power, pulse length, and scan speed. X-ray diffraction was used to characterize the laser-irradiated surface, and it was found that oxide formation and surface roughness are responsible for the observed contrast.