Parametric study of drilling with new innovative laser source: Application to percussion regime

Abstract

To drill sub-millimeters holes, laser percussion drilling has been a well-established and recognized industrial process for many years. However, inherent factors such as the laser source instability, the number of parameters and the complexity of the phenomenon are still making the physical understanding of this process very difficult. And in particular the gas effect, which is in several models, an element of the dynamic drilling. This paper deals with the first experimental investigations concerning the drilling in percussion regime performed with a new laser HL201P (Nd:Yag) from Trumpf. The laser parameters and the gas influence over hole geometry are among the subjects discussed in this paper. The HL201P laser has some beam properties, which are essential to the understanding of the drilling phenomenon: a great energy and pulse duration stability, a ‘‘top-hat’’ intensity distribution and a constant focal plane location in accordance with the laser parameters.To drill sub-millimeters holes, laser percussion drilling has been a well-established and recognized industrial process for many years. However, inherent factors such as the laser source instability, the number of parameters and the complexity of the phenomenon are still making the physical understanding of this process very difficult. And in particular the gas effect, which is in several models, an element of the dynamic drilling. This paper deals with the first experimental investigations concerning the drilling in percussion regime performed with a new laser HL201P (Nd:Yag) from Trumpf. The laser parameters and the gas influence over hole geometry are among the subjects discussed in this paper. The HL201P laser has some beam properties, which are essential to the understanding of the drilling phenomenon: a great energy and pulse duration stability, a ‘‘top-hat’’ intensity distribution and a constant focal plane location in accordance with the laser parameters.