Abstract
Laser Chemical Machining (LCM) is a non-conventional processing method, which enables very accurate and precise ablation of metallic surfaces. Material ablation results from laser-induced thermal activation of heterogeneous chemical reactions between electrolytes and a metallic surface. However, when processing metallic surfaces with LCM, large fluctuations in ablation quality can occur due to rising bubbles. The for-mation of bubbles during laser chemical machining and their influence on the ablation quality has not been investigated. For a more detailed investigation of the bubbles, ablation experiments on Titanium and Ce-ramic under different thermal process conditions were performed. The experiments were recorded by a high-speed camera. The evaluation of the video sequences was performed using Matlab. The resulting bubbles were analyzed regarding their size and frequency. The results show that boil-ing bubbles formed on both materials during processing. Titanium also produces smaller bubbles, which can be identified as process bubbles ac-cording to their size. Furthermore, it was found that undisturbed laser chemical ablation can be achieved in the presence of a boiling process, since both boiling bubbles and process bubbles were detected during machining within the process window.
Highlights
Smaller components increase the demands of industrial manufacturing processes
When processing metallic surfaces with Laser Chemical Machining (LCM), large fluctuations in ablation quality can occur due to rising bubbles
The results show that boiling bubbles formed on both materials during processing
Summary
Smaller components increase the demands of industrial manufacturing processes. Non-conventional machining processes are alternative machining processes, especially for metal workpieces and among them, laser chemical machining (LCM) is very important [2]. Within a suitable process window, a gentle ablation is generated without a detectable heat-affected zone and without remelting processes in the material, which is the main advantage of laser chemical machining compared to other laser based non-conventional ablation processes [4]. Since laser chemistry is mainly a temperature-dependent process, the quality of the ablation generated is mainly dependent on electrolyte boiling, along with the boiling bubble size and the dynamic behavior of the boiling bubbles [9]. Ablations with a variation of the process parameters, e.g. laser power and machining speed, are generated and recorded by a high-speed camera. The recorded videos are analyzed with a focus on the bubble diameter, the adhering time of the bubbles on the workpiece and the bubble size after the bubble has detached from the workpiece
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