LASER Beam Micromachining

Photon Based Material removal Process…

-Sanjay Acharya
MITE,
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 Contents
 INTRODUCTION
 WORKING PRINCIPLE
 PROCESS PARAMETERS
 CLASSIFICATION
 APPLICATIONS
 ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGES
 REFERENCES

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 1. INTRODUCTION
 The term “LASER" originated as an acronym for "Light
amplification by stimulated emission of radiation“.

 Here light energy is used from a LASER to remove

material by vaporization on a specific area on the work
piece .

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 Continued..
 LASER micromachining: cutting, drilling, welding, or
other modification in order to achieve small features.

 Micro machining implies that parts are made to the size

of 1 to 999 µm.

 More recently, there has been an pulsed LASERs, in

particular, have played major role in the development of
numerous micro-systems technology (MST).

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 2.WORKING PRINCIPLE
 A LBMM system consists of the LASER source, mirrors for beam
guidance, a focusing optic and a positioning system.
 The LASER beam is focused onto the work piece and can be
moved relative to it.
 The LASER machining process is controlled by switching the
LASER on and off, changing the LASER pulse energy and other
LASER ‘parameters’ and by positioning either the work piece or
the LASER focus.

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 Continued
 LASER is emitted from the source is passed through the
energy attenuator. After it is passed through the beam
homogenizer to homogenize the beam.
 • The target illuminator and machine vision controls the
beam to the focusing lens.
 The lens is moved by precision motion stages. The beam is
then falls on the work piece and the machining takes place.

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 Typical LASER Beam machining system
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 3.PROCESS PARAMETERS

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 4.CLASSIFICATION
 Major types of LASER are:-
1. Gas lasers
2. Chemical lasers
3. Metal-vapor lasers
4. Solid-state lasers
5. Semiconductor laser

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 5. APPLICATIONS

 Laser micro-drilling: by direct focusing. The focal length

should chosen so that the focal diameter corresponds to
the required hole diameter.
Ex; CO2 lasers for large number of holes in thin
materials.
Nd:YAG lasers for drilling of precision holes in harder
materials.

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 Continued ..
 Laser micro-adjustment: generation of thermal-mechanical
stresses in metal structures.
 Laser cleaning: for particles below 1 µm size get strongly
adherent to the surfaces. They can be ablated by 124 nm laser
pulses.

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 6. ADVANTAGES
 Easy capability of being automated
 Straightforward process monitoring
 Forceless and contactless machining
 Minor heat-affected zone
 Marginal modifications to the microstructure
 Machining free of burr and bulging
 High flexibility regarding design of tiny structures
 High machining speed
 High precision
 Constant machining quality
 No additional tooling costs by wear

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 DISADVANTAGES
 High Temp at Tip causes Tool Wear
 Excess Laser Power lessen Material Hardness
 Feasible only up to Depth of cut of 3 mm
 Highly reflective/transparent surface material is not suitable
for this method.

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 REFERENCES

 http://www.google.com
 http://www.sciencedirect.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/laser_cutting
 http://www.gobookee.org/powerpoint-of-laser-beam-machining/ Laser
beam machining (LBM), state of the art and new opportunities/Johan Meijer .
 http://science.howstuffworks.com/laser.htm

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 THANK YOU

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