Abstract
Laser turning with ultra-short laser pulses provides the possibility of manufacturing rotationally symmetric geometries, even of hard to machine materials as fused silica, down to a micrometer scale. In this laser micro machining approach, the laser beam is oriented perpendicularly to the rotational axis and tangentially to the material, whereas the target geometry is realized by moving the constantly rotating specimen according to the specified geometry under the focused laser spot. Due to the fric-tion-less laser ablation it is possible to realize a turning process in fused silica without the use of a contacting tool and therefore without causing mechanical tensions in the work piece. The processing head focuses the laser to a calculated spot size of 18 μm in diameter and the applied processing gas pressure assists in removing the ablated material. In this study, femto-second laser turning of fused silica with a diameter of 3.7 mm is investigated. The influence of the applied pulse energy is stated and the use of a trepanning optic during the turning process is characterized. Furthermore, compre-hensive parameter studies in order to optimize roughness and to find the maximum achievable abla-tion rate are shown. Limited by the mechanical speed of the rotational axis, the highest feasible abla-tion rate is 19.5 mm³/min. A roughness of Ra 0.65 μm are demonstrated.
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