Laser Ablation of Polymers: A Review

Abstract

Abstract Laser Ablation (LA), which employs a pulsed laser to remove materials from a substrate for generating micro/nano structures, has tremendous applications in the fabrication of metals, ceramics, glasses, and polymers. It has become a noteworthy approach to achieve different functional structures in engineering, chemistry, biological, medical and other fields. There are several parameters present during ablation, which affect the quality of the fabricated structures. Such parameters include laser sources, laser power, medium, and substrate materials. The objective of LA is to obtain high-quality, low-cost, repeatable, and reliable parts. This objective leads to plenty of attempts to control laser parameters on various types of materials. Polymers are one such class of materials, they can be melted and vaporized at high temperature during the ablation process. As a result, a number of polymers have been researched as candidate substrates in LA, and many different structures and patterns have been realized by this method. Based on previous works regarding LA, the current states of research and progress were reviewed from basic concept to optimal parameters, polymer types and applications. The significance of this paper is to provide a basis for follow-up research that leads to the development of superior materials and high-quality production through LA. In this review, we first introduced the basic concept of LA, including mechanism, laser types (millisecond, microsecond, nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond) and influential parameters (wavelength, repetition rate, fluence, and pulse duration). Then, we focused on several commonly used polymer materials (PTFE, PI, PDMS, PET, and PMMA) and compared them in detail, including the effects of polymer properties, laser parameters, and feature designs. Finally, we summarized the applications of various structures fabricated by LA in different areas along with a proposition of the challenges in this research area. Overall, a thorough review of laser ablation on several polymers has been presented, which could pave the way for characterization of future novel materials.