Nanodispersed Microstructures on Laser Mixing of Al-Ni Multilayers

Two phase granular thin films are of great current interest. These have wide applications in the development of magnetic and electronic materials as well as materials for catalysis. We report here a novel method of synthesizing granular films by laser mixing of multilayer films. We present the case of bilayered aluminium-nickel (with a nominal composition of $Al_3Ni$). The laser treated microstructure consists of nanometric dispersions of Ni solid solution in an Al matrix, with no evidence of compound formation. The Al-Ni system was chosen because it has been studied extensively in both thin film and bulk and extensive thermodynamic data is available (1-12)