Laser polishing and simultaneous hardening of the electrical discharge machined Zr-based metallic glass surface

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is highly suitable for processing the hard-brittle materials like metallic glasses (MGs). However, the electro-thermal energy conversion involved in the WEDM process inevitably introduces some surface defects including bulges, discharge craters, and recast materials on the WEDMed MG surface, which significantly impedes its practical application. Here, an emerging automated polishing technology, laser polishing (LP), was performed in the nitrogen-rich environment to simultaneously improve the surface quality and hardness of the WEDMed Zr-based MG surface. The detailed effects of LP parameters on the surface roughness and morphology were systematically investigated. The morphology evolution and temperature distribution of the molten pool during LP were analyzed by simulation analysis. The experimental results indicated that after single LP of four representative WEDMed Zr-based MG surfaces using the optimized laser parameters, the surface roughness (Sa) was remarkably reduced from 1.27, 2.10, 3.49, and 4.58 μm to 0.09, 0.14, 0.17, and 0.21 μm, respectively, accompanied by an increase in surface hardness from 6.30 GPa to 7.39, 7.67, 8.51 and 8.99 GPa. This study demonstrated that LP could effectively achieve simultaneous enhancement of the quality and hardness of WEDMed MG surfaces, which would contribute to expanding the application prospects of MGs.