Laser Drilling and Piercing

1
• Cutting with light! You must have burnt paper on a sunny day
with the help of a magnifying glass.
• Now reality is cutting centimetre-thick steel with a laser beam!
Laser cutting is the most common application of the laser.

Fig.1 Metal cutting of 5-mm-thick stainless steel

with a CO2 slab laser of 2kW
2
Reason why laser cutting is popular : direct process substitution as Laser is able to cut
faster and with a higher quality than the competing processes.

3
Advantages of the laser cutting
divided into two categories – cut quality and process characteristics
Cut quality characteristics:
1. The cut can have a very narrow kerf width giving a substantial
saving in material. (Kerf is the width of the cut opening.)
2. The cut edges can be square and not rounded as occurs with most
hot jet processes or other thermal cutting techniques.
3. The cut edge can be smooth and clean. The cut is reckoned to be a
finished cut, requiring no further cleaning or treatment.
4. The cut edge is sufficiently clean that it can be directly re-welded.
5. There is no edge burr as with mechanical cutting techniques.
Dross adhesion can usually be avoided.
6. There is a very narrow HAZ, particularly on dross-free cuts. Usually
there is a very thin re-solidified layer of micron dimensions. Thus,
there is negligible distortion.
7. Blind cuts can be made in some materials, particularly those
which volatilize, such as wood or acrylic.
8. Cut depth is limited and depends on the laser power. The current
range for high quality cuts with 2–5-kW laser power is 10–20 mm.

4
Advantages of the laser cutting (continued)
Process characteristics:
1. It is one of the faster cutting processes.
2. The work piece does not need clamping. However it is
recommended to avoid the work piece shifting with the table
acceleration and for locating when using a computer numerical
control (CNC) program.
3. There is no tool wear since the process is a non-contact cutting
process, but the lens must be kept clean.
4. Cuts can be made in any direction; but polarization effect is
observed.
5. The noise level is low.
6. The process can easily be automated with good prospects for
adaptive control in the future.
7. Tool changes are mainly “soft”, that is, they are only programming
changes. Thus, the process is highly flexible.
8. Some materials can be stack-cut, but there may be a problem with
welding between layers.
9. Nearly all materials can be cut. They can be friable, brittle, electric
conductors or nonconductors, hard or soft. Only highly reflective
materials such as aluminium, copper and gold can pose a problem,
but with proper beam control these can be cut satisfactorily. 5
The Process – General arrangement for laser cutting

It is very important to the process that the

beam, optic and jet are all lined up.

In cutting, the laser evaporates a hole through

the material and then the “hole” is
traversed to make a cut.

The drilling and piercing processes are

different from cutting in a line because they do
using transmissive optics not have an open-sided hole.

Every cut must start with piercing

otherwise it has to
start at an edge
without piercing

using reflective optics

6
* CNC computer numerical control
 Laser Drilling and Piercing – some examples
• Laser could pierce in a single shot the razor blades and
drill holes in diamond dies for wire drawing.
• One of the main applications is boundary layer film
cooling in jet engine components such as turbine blades
and combustion chambers. State-of-the-art military
engines involve over 1.2million cooling holes, most of
which are laser-drilled.
• Numerous high-density electronic packages employ
laser-drilled vias for interconnecting layers.
• automobile injection nozzles,
• irrigation pipes all contain laser-drilled holes;
• specialist holes in surgical tooling; inkjet nozzles; CD discs
and many more
7
The laser has an advantage in this market since:
• it can drill holes fast;
• burr and spatter can be controlled to some extent;
• it can drill any material that will absorb the radiation regardless of
hardness;
• the diameter and shape of the hole can be controlled by trepanning
methods;
• it can pierce at almost any angle.

The processing challenges that are being addressed

concern:
• increased speed;
• reduction or control of taper;
• elimination of spatter;
• reduction or elimination of the re-solidified layer on the hole wall;
• precise cross-section shape – round, square or star-shaped, etc.;
• repeatability;
• high-aspect-ratio holes; and
• drilling through coated material.
8
 Drilling Process Variations
• Single-shot drilling: One pulse makes and finishes the hole.
• Double-pulse drilling: The energy is divided between two pulses which follow each other in very
rapid succession to interact with the plasma more efficiently.
• Percussion drilling: Single or multiple shot with no movement of the work piece or the beam.
• Trepanning: Rotating the beam around the perimeter of the hole, a form of cutting.
• Helical trepanning: Starting near the middle of the hole and rotating around the perimeter,
gradually deepening the hole with each rotation spirally machining into the work piece.

• Laser Percussion Drilling is the quickest method for achieving a hole; it results in sufficient accuracy
and has good repeatability. It requires pulses of between 105 and 107 Wcm−2.
• However trepanning is more precise.

The physical mechanism describing how the beam penetrates a material is roughly
the same for all of these processes.

9
 Mechanism of Laser Drilling/Piercing
Laser
beam Multiple • Drilling is based on vaporization. The focused beam
Keyhole reflections
Tb Keyhole first heats up the surface to boiling point (Tb) and
so generates a keyhole. (as shown in ‘a’)
• The keyhole causes a sudden increase in the
melt absorptivity owing to multiple reflections causing
the hole to deepen quickly. (as shown in ‘b’)
a b • As the hole deepens, vapour is generated and
escapes. This evaporation exerts a reaction force
on the melt surface as the vapour accelerates
Melt pushed to side wall and
driven up the walls as spray away. In addition there is temperature gradient
Vapour across the surface of the melt, leading to variations
in surface tension causing exertion of force. Both of
Upward reaction force these forces push the melt to the side wall of the
and forming hole.
surface tension force
on the vapour and melt • There is generation of high pressure at the base of the
hole and the drag forces of the escaping vapours.
c Hence the melt is driven up the walls and out as spray
re-solidified layer along with the vapour. (as shown in ‘c’)
splatter
• When the laser pulse stops, this upward melt flow will
also stop. It will appear as splatter around the top of
the hole or it will remain as a re-solidified layer within
the hole on the wall. (as shown in ‘d’)
• In general, the more melt there is, the poorer the
d quality of the resulting hole.
10
• This laser drilling phenomenon explained in
earlier slide(10) is for the materials which
sublime and do not melt, such as wood,
carbon and some plastics.
For metallic materials, there is vaporization ---
With power density of approximately 3× 106
Wcm−2 metals start to evaporate.
At 108 Wcm−2 a plasma is formed that will
prevent further drilling by blocking the beam
through absorption within the electron cloud in
the plasma. This will occur when the plasma
frequency approaches the laser frequency.
11
• In addition to the phenomenon discussed
earlier, there are
1. interactions of the incoming radiation within the
keyhole and
2. the fluid flow of the melt.

12
Additional phenomenon:
1. Interactions of the incoming radiation within the keyhole

• The incoming radiation passes into the forming hole

through the exiting hot gas and dust. This causes scattering
effect on the beam.
• The beam will be either
– absorbed by Fresnel absorption on the walls of the keyhole as it
is wave-guided to the base of the hole
– or reflected out of the hole, but it
– will also be absorbed by the electrons in the hot gas, which in
turn will radiate to the walls of the forming hole.
• If the power is sufficient (more than 108 Wcm−2), a plasma
whose frequency is near that of the laser beam will form
and effectively block the beam from reaching the substrate.
• The pressure will still be there, which is the basis for the
process of shock peening.
13
Additional phenomenon:
2. Fluid flow of the melt
• The melt generated will flow up the walls of the hole
owing to the high pressure at the base and the drag
forces from the exiting gases. The speed of ejection of
the gases will in most cases be supersonic and shock
waves will form in the area of the hole.
• If the coaxial assist gas blowing down onto the hole
entrance, it will initially create a pressure countering
the exiting gases.
• And if the assist gas is oxygen, it may react with the
molten metal and generate more heat. On
breakthrough, the assist gas pressure will help to drive
the vapour through the hole and help scour (To remove
debris and dirt by purging) the sides.
14
• Rate of Penetration or Penetration Velocity can be estimated from
a lumped heat capacity model.
• Assumptions: the heat flow is one-dimensional and all heat is
used in the vaporization process – that is, that the heat
conduction is zero (as penetration rate is similar to or faster than
the rate of heat conduction).REFER TO SLIDE 22.
• volume removed per unit area per second = depth reached per
second = penetration velocity, V (ms−1)
the power
volume removed per seconds =
the heat capacity of a unit volume

−1 𝐹0
𝑉, (𝑚𝑠 )= -------- eq. 1
𝜌 𝐿+𝐶𝑝 𝑇𝑣 −𝑇0
where
F0 absorbed power density (Wm−2), ρ is the density of the solid (kgm−3),
L is the latent heat of fusion and vaporisation (J kg−1), Cp is the heat capacity of the solid (J kg−1 ○C−1),
Tv is the vaporization temperature (○C) and T0 is the initial temperature of the material (○C)

• Using the above equation, the approximate maximum

penetration rate for different materials can be estimated.
15
• Calculate the maximum penetration rate possible for tungsten, if 2
kW laser is focused to 0.2 mm beam diameter. For tungsten,
ρ = 19300 kgm−3,
latent heat of fusion Lf = 185 kJ kg−1,
latent heat of evaporation LV = 4020 kJ kg−1,
heat capacity Cp= 140 J kg−1 ○C−1
Tv is 5930○C,

➢ the power density F0

𝑃
𝐹0 =
𝜋𝑟 2
2000 10
= = 6.37 × 10 Wm-2
𝜋 0.1×10−3 2

6.37 × 1010
𝑉, (𝑚𝑠 −1 ) =
19300 185000 + 4020000 + 140 5930 − 25

= 0.7 ms-1
16
Assignment 1:
Calculate the Penetration Velocity for tungsten,
aluminium, iron, titanium and stainless steel 304

Penetration velosity V for Laser drilling Power, W 2000

beam radius, m1.00E-04
W Al Fe Ti SS304
ρ = kgm−3, 19300 2700 7870 4510 8030
latent heat of fusion Lf = kJ kg−1, 185 397 275 437 300
latent heat of evaporation LV = kJ kg−1, 4020 9492 6362 9000 6500
heat capacity = J kg−1 ○C−1 140 900 460 519 500
T v is ○C 5930 2450 3000 3260 3000
T f is ○C 3410 660 1536 1668 1450
T 0 is ○C 25 25 25 25 25

Penetration velosity V, ms-1 0.70 2.25 1.10 1.37 1.06

17
• If the penetration rate (solid removal) is around 1 ms−1 and if the
density of is solid 1000 times that of vapour, then the velocity of
vapour coming out of the hole will be 1000 ms−1 ! That is sonic
speeds! Hence sonic flow and shock waves will occur. There is
usually a distinct bang with each laser pulse. Such high-velocity flow
will be capable of considerable drag in eroding the walls of the
forming hole.
• Thus, in laser drilling or piercing the material is removed partly as
vapour and partly as ejecta (melt). With the 0.5-ms laser pulses, the
melt ejection fraction varied between 35 and 60% for most metals
except the really heavy metals, such as tungsten, for which the
fraction fell to nearer 10%.
• The size of the ejected particles grew with a reduction in the pulse
energy or an increase in the length of the pulse; larger ejected
particles coming from long, lower-powered pulses. The average
particle size for a 2.5 J, 0.5ms pulse was found to be around 10 μm.
• With constant 0.5 ms pulse, averaged velocity of ejection was
approximately 8 ms−1 for a 1.4 J, and 13 ms−1 for a 2.4 J.
18
• Side effect from this almost explosive evaporation is the
recoil pressure required to accelerate the vapour away.
• Using Bernoulli’s equation with incompressible flow, the
value of this recoil pressure for an exit velocity of 1000
ms−1,
𝜌𝑣 𝑉2
∆𝑃 = = 4 × 106 Nm-2
2
that is the recoil pressure will be 40 atm ! (As 1 atm = 105 Nm-2)

• If the Clausius –Clapeyron equation is applied there will be

dp ΔH
rise in the vaporization temperature Tv , as =
dT TΔV

• This pressure causes stress in the surface, which is

amplified by the thermal stresses generated in the heated
material. Together they represent quite a considerable
stress. If this can be applied very quickly, in a few
nanoseconds (10−9 s), then the effect is similar to being hit,
as in shot peening.
19
 Melt Fraction During Drilling
• The quality of the hole or cut is determined largely by the
quantity of melt which may build up and cause debris on the
surface or erosion marks on the wall. Thus, it is interesting
– to calculate how quickly the boiling point (TB) is reached and
– To know how much of the laser pulse energy is used in evaporation or melting.

• For one-dimensional heat flow with constant energy input it can be shown that the
surface temperature (T(0,t)) at any time, t, after the start of irradiation is given by
2𝐹0 𝛼𝑡
𝑇 0, 𝑡 = ------- eq. 2
𝐾 𝜋

K
where α is the thermal diffusivity (ρC ) (m2s−1) and
p
K is the thermal conductivity (Wm−1 K−1).

Hence the time required to reach the boiling point on the surface, tv is
𝜋 𝑇𝐵 𝐾 2
𝑡𝑣 = ------------ eq. 3
𝛼 2𝐹 0

20
Calculate the time for to cause vaporization
for tungstenLaser beam power 2 kW and 0.2
mm beam diameter
For tungsten,
α, the thermal diffusivity is 164 m2s−1
K, the thermal conductivity is 6.07×10-5 Wm−1 K−1,
TB boiling temperature is 5930○C
2
𝜋 (5930+273) × 6.07×10 −5
𝑡𝑣 = 2×6.37×1010
= 3.3 ms
164

21
 Assignment 2:
Calculate the time for to cause vaporization
for tungsten, aluminium, iron, titanium and
stainless steel 304. Laser beam power 2 kW and
0.2 mm beam diameter
time for to cause vaporization

W Al Fe Ti SS304
-2 6.37E+10 6.37E+10 6.37E+10 6.37E+10 6.37E+10
Power Density, Wm
K is the thermal conductivity, Wm−1 K−1 164 226 50 19 20
α is the thermal diffusivity, m2s−1 6.07E-05 9.30E-05 1.38E-05 8.10E-06 5.00E-06

tv, µs 3.30 0.79 0.38 0.11 0.17

For iron, the thermal gradient at that time will be around 2 μm [assuming a
Fourier number (x2/αt) = 1 or x2=at), x being thermal penetration distance].
Hence the heat affected zone HAZ is very small in this case. Thus the
assumption of ignoring the heat conduction is correct.
22
How much of the energy will be used to evaporate as
opposed to melt?

• If the pulse duration tpulse is sufficiently short, the thermal

penetration distance x is limited and x= α𝑡pulse .
• If x is the thermal penetration distance and d is the diameter
of the hole, the volume will be
𝜋𝑑2 𝜋𝑑2
𝑉=𝑥 × = α𝑡pulse ×
4 4

23
How much of the energy will be used to evaporate as
opposed to melt?
Now energy balance on this volume gives
𝜋𝑑 2
𝐸 = 𝐴 𝜌 α𝑡pulse 𝐶𝑝 𝑇𝑚 − 𝑇 + 𝐿𝑓 + 𝑚′ 𝐶𝑝 𝑇𝑣 − 𝑇𝑚 + 𝐿𝑣
4
where A is a constant and m′ is a multiple of the sensible heat required to
evaporate a unit mass of material.
Now divide both sides by 𝑑 2 𝑡pulse .
𝐸 𝜋 𝜋
=𝐴𝜌 α 𝐶𝑝 𝑇𝑚 − 𝑇 + 𝐿𝑓 + 𝑚′ 𝐴 𝜌 α 𝐶 𝑇 − 𝑇𝑚 + 𝐿𝑣
𝑑2 𝑡pulse 4 4 𝑝 𝑣

𝐸
= 𝐴′ + 𝐵𝑚′ ------------ eq.4
𝑑2 𝑡
pulse
where A′ and B are constants dependent on the material being drilled.

• If m′ > 1, then there is sufficient energy in the pulse to evaporate all the
heat-affected volume.

24
Depth of the evaporated volume is equal to = α𝑡pulse
So the shorter the pulse, the smaller the thickness of the treated zone.

• The laser pulse energy (E) and pulse duration

(tpulse) required to evaporate all the material
in the heat affected zone, assuming no
thermal conduction.
• The lines represent (spot diameter (d)) just
sufficient energy for evaporation.
• Longer pulses of low energy generate more
melt than short sharp pulses.
• Pulses longer than 0.3 ms even with a very
fine 50-μm spot size will generate significant
melt that has to be removed.
• A nanosecond pulse is a good pulse length to
use to give minimum melt.
• Shorter pulses leave less spatter and recast
material.
25
• Vaporization, liquid expulsion and total
removal rates for aluminium, titanium and
superalloy related to laser beam power
• For superalloy, the higher the power, the
less will be the melt.
• The calculated ‘Mach number’ of the
exiting gases is also shown. For superalloy
Mach number is high and hence low melt-
high vaporization.

26
Effect of laser pulse duration on calculated keyhole penetration depth

27
 Double-pulse Drilling Format (Percussion drilling)
• When using very short nanosecond pulses, - if the pulses were very close together,
an enhancement of around 10 times in the removal rate have been achieved.
• Using picosecond pulses, a 100% improvement in drilling speed has been achieved.
• In this technique the total pulse energy is the same, i.e., one large pulse or two half
pulses.
• The effect is due to an interaction of the beam with the laser-generated plasma. The
first pulse with power density more than 108 Wcm−2 generates plasma.
• The plasma frequency is defined by

𝑛𝑒 𝑒 2
𝜔𝑝 =
𝜖0 𝑚 𝑒
and the laser frequency by
𝑐
𝜔𝑙 = 2𝜋 λ

where ne is the electron number density,

e is the electric charge of the electron,
ε0 is the permittivity of free space,
me is the mass of an electron,
c is the velocity of light and
λ is the laser wavelength.
28
 Why increased performance with the double-pulse technique?
1. If the electron number density is such that the plasma frequency is smaller than the laser frequency
(𝜔𝑝 <𝜔𝑙 ), then the plasma will be transparent to the beam, but the beam will suffer refraction
effects due to the steep thermal and density gradients. The refractive index is approximately

𝜔𝑝 2 𝑛𝑒 𝑒 2
𝑁≅ 1− = 1−
𝜔𝑙 2 𝜖0 𝑚𝑒 𝜔𝑙 2

The variation of the refractive index with the electron number density – differentiating both sides
with r, radial distance
𝑑𝑁 1 𝑒2 𝑑𝑛𝑒
≅− 2
𝑑𝑟 2 𝜖0 𝑚𝑒 𝜔𝑙 𝑑𝑟

Defocusing will occur if electron density gradient is negative and

Focusing will occur if the in the radial direction is positive.
(See Figure in next slide 30) The initial plasma plume will have a very high electron concentration at
the core and be defocussing.
However after a very short time the electrons will have moved to the outside by mutual repulsion
and the gradient will be reversed; if, at that moment, a very short interval after the first pulse, the
second one arrives, then it will be focused. Hence this increases performance with the double-pulse
technique.
2. Another reason suggested is that the second pulse may interact with the cooling ablation products
to give a second plasma wave that clears the debris more efficiently.
29
 First pulse - Second pulse-
Laser beam Laser beam
Plasma Plasma

𝑑𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑛𝑒
𝑑𝑟 𝑑𝑟

𝑑𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑛𝑒
𝑑𝑟 r 𝑑𝑟 r

r r
Work piece Work piece

After a very short time the electrons will

With first pulse, initially
have moved to the outside by mutual
electron density gradient is
repulsion and the gradient will be reversed;
negative, defocussing occurs.
the second pulse arrives, then it will be
focused.

It is a feature of this double pulse laser drilling process that if the pulse separation is
too long or too short the effect is not noticed.
30
 The Spatter and Recast Layer Problems
• Laser-drilled holes are inherently associated with spatter deposition
due to the incomplete expulsion of the ejected melt.
• This molten material will re-solidify at the hole exit and within the
hole as a recast layer.
• Spatter is unacceptable in most applications requiring the surface to
be cleared by abrasive blast or regrinding.
• The recast layer is usually very thin but may have properties
different from base material and hence may in some cases be
undesirable or even become a stress raiser if cracks form in it.
• The best way to set the processing parameters to give the minimum
amount of melt and the maximum amount of vapour, that is, short
intense pulses. However, it is unproductively slow.
• The alternative is to coat the surface of the work piece with a
removable but enduring layer e.g. CCl4, Na2CO3 solution, washing-
up detergent, paraffin wax, silicone grease, anti spatter composite
coating containing a mixture of ceramic particles embedded in an
31
elastomer base.
 The Taper Problem
• Laser-drilled holes can be conical, inverted conical or egg timer shapes as
well as cylindrical ones. The shape is partly dependent on the beam shape
and how it expands within the hole.

The main parameters are focal position, pulse power,

pulse duration and number of pulses.

Statistical variation of taper

with various parameters.
32
 To reduce taper ---
• Use of sequential pulse delivery pattern control, in which
each successive pulse is becomes more powerful than the
pulse before.
• By this way, the first lower-powered pulses remove material
quickly, after which the succeeding more powerful pulses
clear out the partially formed hole mainly by evaporation and
melt ejection downwards supported by the assist gas.
• This also called as ramping up of the power in a sequence of
pulses.
• The preferred method for avoiding taper is to use a
trepanning method.

33
 Trepanning
• Trepanning is a process in which the beam initially pierces and then moves around the perimeter of the
proposed hole essentially to cut out the shape of the hole. Almost any shaped hole can be cut this way –
round, square or star-shaped.
There are basically three approaches to trepanning.
1. The first involves acceleration, translation, deceleration and “settling” of either the part or the laser
beam for each laser pulse. This approach takes additional time, but has the benefit of enabling so-called
spiral trepanning, where the initial and final laser penetration can occur at a location within the
perimeter of the hole, thus avoiding any melt flow problems at the start and end of the process. The
trepanning orbit may be done several times, for example, if it is done twice, this would involve one orbit
to trepan and a second to “clean up” the hole.
2. The second method is to keep the beam on continuously and cut out a circle. This has the disadvantage
of starting and stopping on the hole perimeter. It is done by engineering the optics such as –
1. TGSW working head in which the beam passes through a series of movable prisms
2. ILT working head using a Dove prism
3. the Spinning beam optics

3. The third method is to have a programmable beam circuit described as “programmable continuous
motion automated spiral trepanning” or “PC-MAST” for brevity. 34
 Trepanning - continued
• In all these processes it is necessary to have a pulse frequency such
that the material does not re-solidify between pulses.
• the pulse overlap needs to be sufficient to give a smooth edge.
• The overlap needs to be higher for small holes owing to the greater
curvature; hence, the pulse frequency is usually higher for smaller
holes.
• There is an advantage in trepanning with a high-brightness laser, such
as a fibre or disc laser, over percussion drilling since such lasers can be
focused very finely. The penetration is very swift with the intense
beam.
• With trepanning the high penetration speed of an intense spot is
always used. The hole quality can be exceptionally good.

• Helical trepanning is same as for trepanning except that full

penetration is not achieved with the first pulses but a hole is created
by machining down in a spiral manner to the breakthrough point. It
achieves a high level of precision but is slower than percussion
drilling.

35
 Applications of Laser Drilling
• Cooling Holes in Turbine Blades, Vanes and Combustion Chambers
• Inkjet Nozzles
• Via Drilling
• Aspiration Holes in Miscellaneous Objects
• Engineering Holes
• Rock Drilling

Summary of Laser Drilling

• The main methods are single shot, percussion, trepanning and helical trepanning.
• Material is removed as melt and vapour. The longer and less powerful the pulse,
the more will be the quantity of melt and vice versa. The shorter and more intense
the pulse, the more material will be removed as vapour, usually giving a cleaner
hole.
• Molten material can cause spatter and a recast layer.

36