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Recent developments of laser surface modification of titanium alloys for increasing their corrosion, wear and oxidation resistance are introduced. The effects of laser processing parameters on the resulting surface properties of titanium alloys are reviewed. The problems to be solved and the prospects in the field of laser modification of Ti alloys are discussed. Due to the intrinsic properties, a laser beam can be focused onto the metallic surface to produce a broad range of treatments depending on the input energy. Thus, composite strengthening coatings can be fabricated by the methods of laser alloying, cladding, pulse laser deposition (PLD), etc., which are promising techniques of producing a layer of new materials on the surface of titanium alloys.

A pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used to modify the surface properties of Mg alloy (AZ31B) for wear application with Al-Si as precursor material. Highly refined microstructure consisting of Mg₂Si, Mg, Al₁₂Mg₁₇ and Al₂O₃ was obtained. Phase constituent was correlated with thermodynamic calculation by employing Thermocalc™. The evolution of phase amount in the coatings was associated with the laser processing parameters. Due to the presence of highly refined microstructure and hard intermetallic reinforcements, substantial improvement of microhardness has been found in the coating region.

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Shape setting is one of the most important steps in the production route of Nitinol Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), as it can fix the functional properties, such as the shape memory effect and the superelasticity (SE). The conventional method for making the shape setting is performed at 400–500${}^{\circ }$C in furnaces. In this work, a laser beam was adopted for performing straight shape setting on commercially available austenitic Nitinol thin wires. The laser beam, at different power levels, was moved along the wire length for inducing the functional performances. Calorimetric, pseudo-elastic and microstructural features of the laser annealed wires were studied through differential scanning calorimetry, tensile testing and high energy X-ray diffraction, respectively. It can be stated that the laser technology can induce SE in thin Nitinol wires: the wire performances can be modulated in function of the laser power and improved functional properties can be obtained.