Femtosecond Laser Machining of Micro-tensile Specimens for High Throughput Mechanical Testing

Abstract

Recently, a variety of techniques for fabricating microscale specimens for mechanical testing have been developed. However, many of these techniques are limited by material compatibility, specimen sizes, low throughput, or microstructural damage. In contrast, the advent of femtosecond laser systems offer opportunities to circumvent many of these challenges. Here we demonstrate the use of a femtosecond laser milling system to rapidly fabricate micro-tensile specimens across a range of critical dimensions, from 10’s to 100’s of microns. By incorporating the laser milling system into a custom micromechanical testing apparatus, we are able to achieve high throughput investigations of mechanical properties at the microscale. These capabilities are demonstrated on metal and ceramic materials.