Effect of Synchronous Laser Irradiation on Electrochemical Polishing of 6061 Aluminum Alloy

WANG Ye; ZHANG Xiaonan; WU Guolong; YANG Zhenzhen; ZHANG Qunli; ZHANG Gen; PIAO Zhongyu; YAO Jianhua

doi:10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.23.016

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Surface Technology ›› 2025, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (23) : 208-222. DOI: 10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.23.016

Laser Surface Modification Technology

Effect of Synchronous Laser Irradiation on Electrochemical Polishing of 6061 Aluminum Alloy

WANG Ye^1,2,3, ZHANG Xiaonan^1,3, WU Guolong^1,3, YANG Zhenzhen^1,3, ZHANG Qunli^1,3, ZHANG Gen⁴, PIAO Zhongyu^1,3, YAO Jianhua^1,3,*

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Abstract

Electrochemical polishing (ECP) is a common method to reduce the surface roughness of 6061 aluminum alloy components and enhance their smoothness. However, further improvement in the processing effect of the conventional ECP is limited by the crucial issues, including the uneven polishing surfaces and localized stray corrosion. Therefore, to address these issues, synchronous laser irradiation, also called laser composite electrochemical polishing (L-ECP), was introduced into the electrochemical polishing process in this study. Through confocal microscopy, SEM, EDS, XPS, and XRD, the polished specimens treated with and without laser irradiation were comparatively studied in respect of the surface roughness, morphological evolution, material removal, elemental composition changes, and phase composition. At the same time, the wettability and corrosion resistance of the polished specimens were evaluated. Based on these comprehensive analyses, the effect of synchronous laser irradiation on the electrochemical polishing of 6061 aluminum alloy was further discussed. The surface roughness of the polished specimens treated with L-ECP initially decreased and then increased as the laser power increased, with the optimal laser power identified as 30 W. Moreover, during the single-line processing experiment, both the ECP and L-ECP treated specimens attained their lowest surface roughness after 6 minutes of processing, and the L-ECP treated specimens exhibited better surface quality. Through the above process optimization, a mirror polishing process was realized during the subsequent overlapping processing experiments. The surface roughness of specimens decreased from 729 nm to 276 nm after the conventional electrochemical polishing, representing a 62% reduction compared to the substrate. With the introduction of laser irradiation, the surface roughness of the as-received specimen was further reduced to 207 nm, and a 72% decrease was achieved compared to the untreated specimen. By observing the evolution of surface morphology, it was found that the polished surface prepared by the L-ECP treatment exhibited a significant decrease in corrosion pits and insoluble residues compared with that prepared by the ECP treatment. Meanwhile, EDS results suggested that a reduction in oxygen content was detected on the L-ECP treated specimen. XPS analysis also confirmed that specimens treated by L-ECP exhibited lower relative content of reaction product SiO₂ than the ECP treated specimen. The above results verified that auxiliary laser irradiation effectively resolved the issues of non-uniform polishing and localized stray corrosion. The XRD results indicated that the thermal effect of laser irradiation mainly affected the electrochemical reaction process and did not change the surface composition of the substrate. In terms of performance, the increment in contact angle was observed on the polished surface by L-PEC, which indicated the introduction of laser irradiation increased the surface hydrophobicity of the substrate by improving the quality of polishing. Both polishing processes improved the corrosion resistance of the substrate, as evidenced by the decrease in corrosion current density. The surface of aluminum alloy treated with laser composite electrochemical polishing was more resistant to corrosion than the surface of aluminum alloy treated with regular electrochemical polishing. This was because it was less rough, had fewer defects, and was more hydrophobic. In conclusion, laser irradiation enhances the surface quality of 6061 aluminum alloy during electrochemical polishing by improving ion transport efficiency to expedite passive layer dissolution, optimizing current density distribution, and minimizing dissolution rate discrepancies among various phases.

Key words

laser irradiation / electrochemical polishing / 6061 aluminum alloy / surface roughness / morphology evolution

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WANG Ye, ZHANG Xiaonan, WU Guolong, YANG Zhenzhen, ZHANG Qunli, ZHANG Gen, PIAO Zhongyu, YAO Jianhua. Effect of Synchronous Laser Irradiation on Electrochemical Polishing of 6061 Aluminum Alloy[J]. Surface Technology. 2025, 54(23): 208-222 https://doi.org/10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.23.016

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Funding

National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFB4607101); Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LQ24E050017); National Natural Science Foundation of China (52575544, U22A20199)