Quality Of Laser-drilled Holes Research Articles

Study of Laser Drilled Hole Quality of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia

The Yttria Stabilized Zirconia ceramic is extensively used in aerospace, automotives, medical and microelectronics industries. These applications demand manufacturing of different macro and micro features with close tolerances in this material. To make miniature holes with accurate dimensions in advanced ceramics such as Yttria Stabilized Zirconia is very difficult due to its tailored attributes such as high toughness, hardness, strength, resistance to wear, corrosion and temperature. Due to inherent characteristics of laser drilling, researchers are working to fulfill the requirement of creation of micro holes in advanced ceramics. The present research investigates the laser drilling of 2 mm thick Yttria Stabilized Zirconia with the aim to achieve good micro holes with reduced geometrical inaccuracies and improved hole quality. The results show that multiple quality response comprising hole circularity, hole taper and recast layer thickness has been improved at optimally selected process parameters.

Swirling Gas Jet-Assisted Laser Trepanning for a Galvanometer-Scanned CO2 Laser

Laser-drilled hole arrays are part of an important field that aim to improve efficiency without affecting the quality of laser-drilled holes. In this paper, a swirling gas jet was implemented to assist with laser trepanning for a galvanometer scanned CO2 laser. The proposed swirling gas jet is based on laser trepanning. This swirling gas jet nozzle was composed of four inlet tubes to produce the flow of the vortex. Then, the plume particles were excluded, and spatter on the surface of the workpiece decreased. Thus, this approach can mitigate the problem of overcooling. This study manipulated the appropriate parameter settings, which were simulated by computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS CFX. The proposed swirling gas jet can be used with galvanometer-based scanner systems to keep the laser beam from interference by spatter. In addition, a hollow position of the vortex was achieved by using the four inlet tubes, which resulted in pressure asymmetry in the nozzle and velocity distribution on the surface of the workpiece. The experiment verified that the depth of processing could be enhanced by 110% when trepanning at a scanning speed of 30 mm/s, and that the removal of volume could be enhanced by 71% in trepanning at a diameter of 1 mm by using a swirl assistant compared with a non-assisted condition. Furthermore, the material removal rate of the swirling jet increases when the machining area of the galvanometer-based scanner is larger.

An experimental study on quasi-CW fibre laser drilling of nickel superalloy

Laser drilling of metals and alloys is extensively used in modern manufacturing industries to produce holes of various size and shape. Currently, most laser drilling of aerospace nickel superalloys is performed using Nd:YAG laser. Over the years, many attempts were made to increase the productivity of Nd:YAG lasers drilling process, but with little success. This paper investigates the fundamental aspects of millisecond-pulsed-Quasi-CW-fibre laser drilling of aerospace nickel superalloy. The main investigation concentrates on understanding the Quasi-CW-fibre laser parameters on trepanning laser drilled hole quality and speed. The principal findings are based on controlling the recast layer, oxide layer, hole surface characteristic and fatigue performance of the laser drilled samples. The results showed that the high average power of the quasi-CW-fibre lasers can be effectively used to achieve increased trepanning drilling speed without undermining the drilling quality, which is not feasible with a free-space Nd:YAG laser. Also, low peak power and high frequency (of quasi-CW-fibre laser) can be effectively used to produce better laser drilled holes than the high peak power and low frequency, which is common with the traditional millisecond Nd:YAG drilling processes. Recast layer thickness of around 30μm can be achieved with a trepanning speed of up to 500mm/min with single orbit Quasi-CW fibre laser drilling of 0.75mm hole over 5mm thick material.

Pulsed Nd: YAG laser drilling of aerospace materials (Ti-6Al-4V)

This paper studies the influence of Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet) laser process parameters on laser drilled hole quality. Ti-6Al-4V of 1 mm and 3 mm thickness were used as the workpiece substrate. The principal findings are mainly based on minimising the taper angle in laser drilled holes, reducing the heat affected zone and reducing the production of spatter. Identification of key process variables associated with laser drilling process is accomplished by trial experimentation. Using the identified key process variables, further experiments were then performed with the assistance of statistical design of experiment (DOE) to find the interaction and individual effects of various laser process parameters on laser drilled hole quality. The lowest taper angle of 1.8 degrees was achieved with use of nitrogen as the assist gas. Furthermore, from the laser process observations, it was found that laser power significantly affects the quality of the laser drilled hole. Increase in laser power would increase the hole size and result in more spatter on the entry hole surfaces. The nozzle focus position substantially influenced the laser drilled hole size. The amount of spatter deposits increased with decrease in the nozzle offset. Increase in laser frequency significantly increased the exit diameter, which resulted in smaller taper angle. Number of pulse required to drill through a workpiece depends on the material properties and physical properties of the material. For 1mm Ti-6Al-4V, a minimum of two pulses was required to successfully removed the material during drilling and a minimum of 4 pulses was required to drill through the same material with 3mm thickness.

Modeling and Experimental Investigation of Laser Drilling with Jet Electrochemical Machining

As two kinds of defects, recast layers and spatters, commonly accompanied by laser-drilled holes always prevent the laser drilling technique from extending its applications in aerospace and aircraft industries, therefore, a novel hybrid process incorporating laser drilling with jet electrochemical machining (JECM-LD) has been developed to solve these problems as well as improve the overall quality of laser-drilled holes. It is executed by directing an electrolyte jet coaxially aligned with a laser beam onto the workpiece surface. During the process, the electrolyte jet produces electrochemical reaction with the surface material, effective cooling of it and carries away the process scraps. A two-dimensional mathematical model is proposed to describe the shape of the holes machined by JECM-LD. The model is verified through comparison between the results from simulation and those from experiments conducted on the test pieces made of 321 stainless steel 0.5 mm thick processed by the pulsed Nd:YAG laser at second harmonic wavelength. An examination of the experimental results under an optical microscope discovers that, by contrast with the laser drilling in air, the JECM-LD has effectively removed the recast layers and spatters, but its efficiency dropped by about 30%.

Femtosecond laser drilling of alumina ceramic substrates

In the paper, the result on femtosecond laser drilling of alumina ceramic substrate was reported. The effects of various laser parameters such as different focus position, traverse speed, drilling pattern, pausing time, etc. on the drilled hole quality in terms of surface finish, heat affected zone (HAZ), hole circularity, debris, microcracks were studied. The quality of laser-drilled holes on alumina ceramic substrates was evaluated with optical microscope, SEM/EDX, and X-ray μ-CT analysis. The optimum drilling conditions were identified. High-quality laser-drilled holes on alumina ceramic substrates were demonstrated. The developed process has potential application in manufacturing of alumina substrate based electronic devices.

Green Laser Drilling Assisted with Neutral Salt Solution

Recast layer is an inherent defect commonly associated with holes produced with laser drilling. The defect is likely to limit the extent of aero industrial application. In order to solve the problem, a new processing of laser drilling assisted with neutral salt solution (SALD) has been developed to improve the overall quality of laser-drilled holes. The process bases on the application of a fluid neutral salt solution, which is being on the workpiece surface with the focused laser beam at the same time. The effects of the neutral salt solution during the process mostly consist of thermal chemical reaction and continuing cooling effect of materials. Because of green laser being weakly absorbed underwater, the experiments of SALD have been performed on 0.5mm thickness 321 stainless steel with pulsed Nd:YAG laser at second harmonic wavelength. The optical microscope is used to detect the experimental results. It is found that the recast layer has been effectively removed during the SALD compared with laser drilling in ambient atmosphere conditions. It is confirmed that the principle of SALD is right and the new process can obtain good hole quality without recast layer.

Green Laser Drilling Assisted with Jet Electrochemical Machining of Nickel-Based Superalloy

Laser drilling is extensively used in the aerospace and aircraft industries. The most important application is the drilling of fine cooling holes in aero turbine engine components such as nozzle guide vanes and blades. However, laser-drilled holes are typically associated with a number of inherent defects such as recast layer and spatter. In order to solve these problems, a novel hybrid process of laser drilling assisted with jet electrochemical machining (JECM-LD) has been developed to improve the overall quality of laser-drilled holes. The process based on the application of a jet electrolyte, being aligned coaxially with the focused laser beam, on the workpiece surface. The effects of the jet electrolyte during the process mostly consist of electro chemical reaction, effective cooling with materials and transporting debris. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser with frequency doubling is used in the JECM-LD experiments. On the basis of a measurement of laser attenuation in electrolyte, an experimental apparatus system is built and JECM-LD experiments are performed on 0.5mm thickness nickel-based superalloy sheets with the system. The optical microscope is used to detect the experimental results. It is found that the recast layer and spatter have been effectively removed during the JECM-LD compared with laser drilling in ambient atmosphere conditions. The efficiency of JECM-LD with millisecond green laser is about 70% of laser drilling in air.

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Laser Drilling in a Partially Transparent Medium

An investigation of pulsed, laser drilling in a partially transparent medium was conducted. The study included both theoretical and experimental analyses. The theoretical analysis included development of a computer simulation to model the laser drilling process—a three-dimensional finite difference solution with temperature-dependent thermal properties, finite sample geometry, and experimentally determined laser beam characteristics. Both qualitative and quantitative correlation of the theoretical and experimental results was good with successful prediction of hole shapes and minimum error in the theoretically predicted cross-sectional areas of the laser-drilled holes ranging approximately ± three percent over the range of energies per laser pulse considered in this study. Results of calculations and experiments demonstrated the importance of the shape and irradiance distribution of the incident laser beam on the quality of laser-drilled holes in Al2O3 samples.