Influence of the Pulse Duration onto the Material Removal Rate and Machining Quality for Different Types of Steel

Abstract

When high requirements concerning machining quality are demanded, ultra short pulsed lasers with pulse durations from a few 100fs to 10ps may be the tool of choice. For these pulses it is known that the removal rate and machining quality slightly increases with shorter pulse duration. But as cost-effectiveness is also a key factor for a successful transfer of a technology to industrial applications, these systems compete against more cost effective systems with pulse durations from several 10ps to a few ns. It was found in previous work that the removal rate for metals strongly depends on the pulse duration. For steel also the composition and microstructure will influence the ablation processes. A systematic study of the removal rate and the machining quality for different types of steel and for pulse durations of several 100 fs to few ns will be presented.