Abstract
The quality of micro-features in various technologies is mostly affected by the choice of the micro-fabrication technique, which in turn results in several limitations with regard to materials, productivity, and cost. Laser beam micro-machining has a distinct edge over other non-traditional methods in terms of material choices, precision, shape complexity, and surface integrity. This study investigates the effect of laser fluence and pulse overlap while developing microchannels in alumina ceramic using an neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser. Microchannels 200 µm wide with different depths were machined using different laser peak fluence and pulse overlap (percentage of overlap between successive laser pulses) values. It was found that high pulse overlaps and fluences should be avoided as they give rise to V-shaped microchannels i.e., 100% bottom width errors. The optimal peak fluence range was found to be around 125–130 J/cm2 corresponding to 3–5 µm depth per scan. In addition, channels fabricated with moderate pulse overlap were found to be of good quality compared to low pulse overlaps.
Highlights
Structural ceramics find many applications in microfeature products due to their exceptional properties such as wear resistant, chemical inertness, high temperature strength, and dimensional stability
The current study provides a relationship between laser fluence, pulse overlap, and depth of material removed per laser scan (D/S)
The developed microchannels were analyzed in terms of variations in top width error, bottom width error, depth of material removed per laser scan, and the material removal rate
Summary
Structural ceramics find many applications in microfeature products due to their exceptional properties such as wear resistant, chemical inertness, high temperature strength, and dimensional stability. Alumina micro-featured products have applications in many areas like microelectronics due to their excellent dielectric strength and in microreactors as heat and corrosive-resistant material with low thermal expansion. They are being utilized for many wear resistance applications like parts in micropumps, valves, and thread/wire guides. Conventional processing methods to fabricate micro features in structural ceramics are not able to meet the designed requirements in various areas like micro-electronics, bio-medical applications and microreactors etc. The microfeatures in these applications require high dimensional accuracy with very fine surface finish. Absence of microcracks, residual stresses, and heat affected zones is crucial to ensure smart product architecture resulting in high performance integration [1,2]
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