A copper vapor laser (CVL) of 511/578 nm wavelength, 25 ns pulse width and 10 kHz repetition rate combined with a computer controlled Galvo head was used for laser micromachining of 304 stainless steel. The objectives of this study were determination of the characteristics of laser micromachining process and its optimization. A significant improvement in micromachining quality was observed with a spatially filtered beam. Micromachining experiments were carried out on stainless steel samples of 75, 153 and 356 µm thicknesses.

1.
Glover
,
Illy
&
Piper
,
High speed uv micromachining of polymers with frequency doubled copper vapor lasers
,
IEEE
vol.
1
, No,
3
Sept.
1995
, pp.
830
936
.
2.
Lazare
,
Lopez
&
Weisbuch
.
High aspect ratio microdrilling in polymeric materials with KrF laser radiation
.
Appl. Phys. A
69
1999
, pp. [Suppl.], S
1
-S
6
.
3.
Gower
,
industrial applications of laser micromachining
,
Optics Express
2000
, vol.
7
, No.
2
, pp.
56
67
.
4.
Friedrich
,
Drilling of high quality micro holes
,
ICALEO
2000
, section B, pp.
1
9
.
5.
Gray
&
Li
,
An analysis of repeatability of laser percussion drilling process
,
ICALEO
2000
, section B, pp
31
40
.
6.
Moon
,
Mizutani
,
Goto
,
Katayama
, &
Matsunawa
,
Melting characteristics of metals by combined laser beams with different wavelengths
,
ICALEO
2000
, section E, pp
143
152
.
7.
Lash
&
Gilgenbach
,
Copper vapor laser drilling of copper, iron, and titanium foils in atmospheric pressure air and argon
,
Rev. Sci. Instrum
. Nov
1993
vol.
64
, pp.
3308
3313
.
8.
Chang
,
Warner
,
Dragon
&
Martinez
,
Precision micromachining with pulsed green lasers
,
Laser Institute of America
, vol.
10
,
1998
, pp.
285
287
.
9.
Knowles
,
Micro-ablation with high power pulsed copper vapor lasers
,
Optics Express
vol.
7
, No.
2
,
2000
, pp.
50
55
.
10.
Knowles
,
Benfield
,
Andrews
&
Kearsely
,
development of high power compact kinetically enhanced copper vapor lasers
,
ICALEO
2000
, section B, pp.
173
178
.
11.
Semerok
,
Laser ablation efficiency of pure metals with Femtosecond
,
picosecond and nanosecond pulses
,
SPIE
vol.
3343
April
1998
, pp.
1049
1055
.
12.
Dumitru
,
Romano
,
Weber
,
Haefke
,
Gerbig
&
Pfluger
,
Laser micromachining of steel surfaces for tribological application
,
Appl. Phys. A
, vol.
70
,
2000
, pp.
485
487
.
13.
Cheng
,
Kahlen
&
Kar
,
Effect of intra-pulse structure on hole geometry in laser drilling
,
ICALEO
2000
, section B, pp.
58
67
.
14.
Chang
,
Warner
,
Laser plasma interaction during visible-laser ablation methods
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
A vol.
69
, July
1996
, pp.
473
475
.
15.
Luft
,
Franz
,
Emsermann
&
Kaspar
,
Appl. Phys. A
, vol.
63
,
1996
, pp
93
101
.
16.
Lu
,
Song
,
Ang
,
Hong
,
Chang
&
Low
,
A theoretical model for laser removal of particles from solid surfaces
,
Appl. Phys. A
, vol.
65
,
1997
, pp.
9
13
.
17.
Houle
&
hinsberg
,
Stochastic simulation of heat flow with application to laser-solid interaction
,
Appl. Phys. A
, vol.
66
1998
, pp.
143
151
.
18.
Zhigilei
&
Garrison
,
Mechanisms of laser ablation from molecular dynamics simulations: dependence on the initial temperature and pulse duration
,
Appl. Phys. A
, vol.
69
[Suppl.],
1999
, pp. S
75
-S
80
.
19.
Tosto
,
Modeling
&
computer simulation of pulsed-laser-induced ablation
,
Appl. Phys. A
vol.
68
,
1999
, pp.
439
446
.
20.
Lu
,
Zheng
, &
Song
,
An energy approach to the modeling of particle removal by laser irradiation
,
Appl. Phys. A
, vol.
68
,
1999
, pp.
569
572
.
21.
Komer
,
Mayhofer
,
Hartmann
&
Bergmann
,
Physical and material aspects in using visible laser pulses of nanosecand duration for ablation
,
Appl. Phys. A
63
,
1996
, pp.
123
131
.
22.
Kapitan
,
Courts
&
Colin
,
Efficient generation of near diffraction limited beam-quality output from medium scale copper vapor laser oscillator
,
Journal of quantum electronics
, vol.
34
, No 3, March
1998
, pp.
419
426
.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.