Surface treatment analyses of car bearings by using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Determination of surface coating composition is a problem of great importance for industry and production related to the quality control of products and processes. One of the most outstanding aspects of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is its unique ability to carry out real-time depth profile analysis. This allows, for instance, the identification of layered coatings composition. In this work we performed depth profile analysis using LIBS to determine the composition of layered surface treatments of car bearings. Laser ablation thresholds for each coating layer were determined by acoustic measurements. Transitions between the different coating layers were also identified by an acoustic method. We developed faster and simpler semi-quantitative procedures to determine the relative composition of alloy surface coatings of car bearings as well as the possibility to characterize in real time these treatments.