Transient laser-induced thermochemical processes on metal surfaces and their visualisation with a laser image amplifier

Laser oxidation of metals and alloys (steel, copper, brass, titanium, etc.) was investigated with a laser image amplifier based on a Cu laser making use of computer image processing. A method was developed for measuring the growth of an oxide film by recording the motion of interference minima (maxima) of the reflectivity for copper laser radiation when the oxide distribution was nonuniform. The results were compared with theoretical models.