Novel strategy for ultrafast pulsed laser micromachining of rotational symmetric metallic parts

Abstract

Ultra-fast lasers have already been used to machine rotational symmetric metallic parts for several years but did not prevail against much cheaper fiber lasers. The limiting factor up to now is the dynamics of the rotary and linear axes, that are used to move the part underneath the stationary laser beam. Although the quality of the surface machined with ultrafast pulsed laser radiation is better than that machined with fiber laser radiation, an overall economic consideration mostly did not justify the utilization of ultrafast pulse lasers for this kind of application. Therefore, new and innovative concepts are needed to exploit the potential of ultrafast pulse lasers, in particular high repetition rate and the steadily increasing average power. The realization that will be presented uses a high-end galvanometric scanner to move the laser beam at speeds of several ten meters per second across the constantly rotating part. The most important part is the synchronization of the laser, the scanner and the axes.