Surface integrity of drilling Ti-6Al-4V micro-holes using the ultrashort pulse laser with different three-dimensional paths planning

Abstract

The improvement of aero-engine performance posed a challenge to the heat dissipation ability of blades, resulting in a substantial increase in the demand for micron-sized (≤1 mm) film cooling holes. In this paper, an improved three-dimensional path machining method for ultrashort pulse laser drilling of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy is studied. The influence of four representative paths that are contour offset path, broken line path, raster path and jagged path on hole quality is described and discussed in detail. By establishing a three-dimensional two-temperature model in cylindrical coordinates, the defocusing control of the machining process is carried out, and the temperature field distribution with different drilling paths is simulated and analyzed. Finally, the experimental study of drilling round holes with a diameter of 800 μm is carried out on the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V plate with a thickness of 1 mm, and the wear resistance of the workpieces is tested. The experimental results show that, compared with the other three paths, the temperature field uniformity of laser processing with the contour offset path is the best, the quality of the processed holes is significantly improved, the outlet roundness is increased by 26.54 %–36.59 %, the cone angle is reduced by 12.7° and the wear resistance is increased by >1.3 times. Moreover, there is no obvious recast layer and micro cracks on the pore wall, and dense nano oxide particles are produced on the surface. In summary, the contour offset path controlled by three-dimensional defocusing is an effective hole processing path, which provides the possibility for machining efficient and high-quality film cooling holes.