Effects of Beam Size and Pulse Duration on the Laser Drilling Process

TL;DR

This study uses a detailed laser drilling model to examine how beam size and pulse duration influence hole geometry, revealing that larger beams reduce ablation and longer pulses enhance depth due to thermal effects.

Contribution

The paper introduces a comprehensive 2D transient laser drilling model that accounts for heat transfer, phase changes, and material removal, providing new insights into process optimization.

Findings

Larger beam diameter decreases ablation effect due to increased vaporization.

Longer pulse width results in deeper holes owing to higher thermal ablation efficiency.

The model accurately predicts the influence of laser parameters on hole geometry.

Abstract

A two-dimensional axisymmetric transient laser drilling model is used to analyze the effects of laser beam diameter and laser pulse duration on the laser drilling process. The model includes conduction and convection heat transfer, melting, solidification and vaporization, as well as material removal resulting from the vaporization and melt ejection. The validated model is applied to study the effects of laser beam size and pulse duration on the geometry of the drilled hole. It is found that the ablation effect decrease with the increasing beam diameter due to the effect of increased vaporization rate, and deeper hole is observed for the larger pulse width due to the higher thermal ablation efficiency.