Due to its passive surface, nickel is a material suited for applications chemical and electro-chemical applications with aggressive media. Because of this passive surface, producing adhesive bonds on nickel is challenging. To achieve a strong, long-term stable adhesive bond, nickel must be pre-treated. For thin-walled material, which reduces material costs significantly, a cold process with minor thermal and mechanical stress input into the material is necessary [1]. Femtosecond-pulsed laser radiation can alter the surface chemically and morphologically, producing super hydrophilic surfaces with good adhesion properties.


A laser pre-treatment process on nickel is investigated using a Yb:YAG slab laser at 780 fs pulse length. The process is varied in pulse density, pulse energy, focus position and pulse frequency to produce various surface structures on a nanometer scale. The surface structures are categorized morphologically in SEM. To quantify the adhesion properties of the produced surfaces, peel tests are conducted using a two-component epoxy adhesive. The morphological and mechanical data is linked to define process areas for the laser process. LIPSS and process vapor depositions on the surface lead to highest adhesive strengths. Selected high-performing parameter settings will be further investigated to increase process speeds in relation to the thermal impact into the thin-walled material for an industrial adaption of the pre-treatment process.





[1] Beier, C. J. A., Heym, M. K., Ginster, V., Schiebahn, A., Reisgen, U. (2024). Evaluation of surface pretreatment methods on thin austenitic stainless steel foils for adhesive bonding applications. The Journal of Adhesion, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218464.2024.2304606