Study of the LASER Beam Machining process . .

Introduction:LASER is the acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation .

Basically LASER is the beam of coherent and monochromatic photons with high directional strength and brightness. Lasers are distinguished from other light sources
by their coherence. Spatial coherence is typically expressed through the output being a narrow beam which is diffraction-limited, often a so-called "pencil beam." Laser beams can be focused to very tiny spots, achieving a very high irradiance, or they can be launched into beams of very low divergence in order to concentrate their power at a large distance.

MECHANISM OF LIGHT EMMISION :An atom consists of positive nucleus and negatively surrounding orbiting electrons. Now when an electron is excited from any kind of external energy source it changes its orbit and after short periods of time returns to its original state by emitting energy in the form of light photon as per Plancks law (E=h ) .

Now this emission can be of two types :

1. Spontaneous emission :- Generation of visible light

2. Stimulated emission :- Generation of LASER

LASER GENERATION :-

A laser is constructed from three principal parts:

An energy source (usually referred to as the pump or pump source), A gain medium or laser medium, and Two or more mirrors that form an optical resonator.

Pump source
The pump source is the part that provides energy to the laser system. Examples of pump sources include electrical discharges, flash lamps, arc lamps, light from another laser, chemical reactions and even explosive devices. The type of pump source used principally depends on the gain medium, and this also determines how the energy is transmitted to the medium. A helium-neon(HeNe) laser uses an electrical discharge in the helium-neon gas mixture, a Nd:YAG laser uses either light focused from a xenon flash lamp or diode lasers, and excimer lasers use a chemical reaction.

Gain medium / Laser medium

The gain medium is the major determining factor of the wavelength of operation, and other properties, of the laser. . There are hundreds if not thousands of different gain media in which laser operation has been achieved .The gain medium is excited by the pump source to produce a population inversion, and it is in the gain medium that spontaneous and stimulated emission of photons takes place, leading to the phenomenon of optical gain, or amplification.

Examples of different gain media include:

Liquids, such as dye lasers. These are usually organic chemical solvents, such as methanol, ethanol or ethylene glycol, to which are added chemical dyes such as coumarin, rhodamine, and fluorescein. Gases, such as carbon dioxide, argon, krypton and mixtures such as helium-neon. These lasers are often pumped by electrical discharge. Solids, such as crystals and glasses. The solid host materials are usually doped with an impurity such as chromium,neodymium, erbium or titanium ions. Typical hosts include YAG (yttrium aluminium garnet), YLF (yttrium lithium fluoride),sapphire (aluminium oxide) and various glasses. Examples of solid-state laser media include Nd:YAG ; Cr:sapphire (usually known as ruby),. Solid-state lasers are usually pumped by flash lamps or light from another laser.

Optical resonator

The optical resonator, or optical cavity, in its simplest form is two parallel mirrors placed around the gain medium which provide feedback of the light. The mirrors are given optical coatings which determine their reflective properties. Typically one will be a high reflector, and the other will be a partial reflector. The latter is called the output coupler, because it allows some of the light to leave the cavity to produce the laser's output beam. Light from the medium, produced by spontaneous emission, is reflected by the mirrors back into the medium, where it may be amplified by stimulated emission. The light may reflect from the mirrors and thus pass through the gain medium many hundreds of times before exiting the cavity. In more complex lasers, configurations with four or more mirrors forming the cavity are used. The design and alignment of the mirrors with respect to the medium is crucial to determining the exact operating wavelength and other attributes of the laser system.

Nd : YAG Solid State LASER Generation

LASER Drilling Machine

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS :WORKPIECE: - Material of the work piece was Poly Methyl Meta Acrylate ( PMMA) , a
transparent work piece with a thickness of approximately 0.9 mm .

BEAM: - Nd YAG LASER Beam ; Beam Diameter :- 1 m.m

FIXED PARAMETERS: =- Pulse Width of The LASER , Focal Length of the Ray .

VARIABLE PARAMETERS: - Lamp Current and Frequency

EXP. LAMP CURRENT NO. (A)

FREQUENCY BEAM HOLE DIAMETER DIA. (m.m) (KHz ) TOP DIA 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.094 0.092 0.100 0.091 0.095 0.088 0.087 0.066

HOLE AVG. TAPER DIA (m.m) BOTTOM DIA. 0.0164 0.0561 0.0204 0.0603 0.0205 0.0580 0.0268 0.0531

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

15 16 17 18 17 17 17 17

0.043

0.0552

0.0190 0.074 0.044 0.017 0.0602 0.0756

0.0413 0.0577 0.0167 0.073 0.033 0.073 0.0569 0.0595

HOLE TAPER = (TOP DIA. BOTTOM DIA.) / 2 * THICKNESS

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE :1.

THE WORK PIECE IS HELD BY PROPER HOLDING DEVICE AT THE CENTRE OF THE PLATE .

Laser drilling is a process in which a laser is used to make holes, instead of conventional drilling.

2. By the help of Q switch the Continuous LASER beam is transformed into pulsed wave ; so as to enhance the energy density of the falling beam and hence the material removal becomes faster and easier

3. After that the beam is focused by the focusing lens and the action is observed by the presence of the closed circuit camera fitted in front of the lens. The focusing and placement of the work piece is properly done by observing the movement at the display.

4. Here after several drilled holes are created on the work piece surface; and because of the converging nature of the beam the drilled holes will be of course tapered shape. the upper and bottom diameters will be slightly different . As LASER machining is a micro machining process so obviously the holes generated ill have diameters in the range of micrometer.

5. Now the drilled work piece is kept under an optical lens with good magnification and the holes are observed for determining the top and bottom diameters. one by one the holes are placed at the 1st quadrant and then they are translated to the 3rd quadrant such that the circumference touches both the axes and from that translation the average diameter is calculated.

Variation of Lamp Current and Diameter with Constant Frequency (4.8 Khz)
0.08 0.07 0.06 Diameter (m.m) 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0 14.5 15 15.5 16 16.5 17 17.5 18 18.5 Lamp Current (A)

Variation of Hole Diameter with Frequency under constant Lamp Current (17 A )
0.08 0.07 Diameter (m.m) 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 Frequency ( KHz )