ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses dynamic deformations of metal surfaces due to irradiation-induced reversible thermodeformations and irreversible plastic thermodeformations. At incident laser radiation intensities insufficient for initiating target vaporisation or melting, one can still notice modifications of the irradiated surface as a result of thermoelastic deformation. The chapter describes the thermoelastic behaviour of a continuous medium under the action of a pulsed heat source creates a difficult mathematical problem. It considers the sample as semi-infinite and the heat source as a surface source. The chapter also describes the energy distribution in a cross section of the laser beam with a Gaussian function of the type. It examines the main phases of the thermoelastic surface deformation process and looks into the consequences of this phenomenon. The temperature dependence of optical, thermophysical and mechanical properties of the metal, as well as the convective and radiation energy losses from the target surface are ignored.
