LBM Laser Beam Machining

Reference
1. Vijay K Jain, “Advanced Machining
Process”, Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd,
Mumbai, India, 2007, Chapter 8.
 Syllabus
Laser Beam Machining (LBM), Electron Beam
Machining (EBM), Plasma arc Machining
(PAM), Ion beam Machining(IBM) -
Mechanism of metal removal, attributes of
process characteristics on MRR, accuracy etc
and structure of HAZ compared with
conventional process; application,
comparative study of advantages and
limitations of each process.
 Laser
 Solar energy is about 1 W/mm2.
 a laser beam be focused at the diamond
surface
 energy density at the diamond surface may
be achieved so high (about 1000 W/mm2)
 can melt and even vaporize the diamond
 Laser
 tremendous amount of energy release is
achieved due to collision of oscillating, high
energy-level atoms
 with electromagnetic waves having
resonant frequency.
 waves absorb energy from the atoms and
become highly powerful, and are called
MASER (Microwave Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
 Laser
 LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation
 invented by amplifying ordinary light waves
based on similar principle (ie to transmit
light waves with constant frequency and
wavelength without interference).
 Laser
 Einstein hypothesized
 under appropriate conditions, light energy of
a particular frequency can be used to
stimulate the electrons in an atom
 to emit additional light with exactly the same
characteristics as the original stimulating
light source.
 An atom, initially in any of the excited
states, does not remain forever in that sate
(or energy level).
 Laser
 Einstein proposed
 When an atom at ‘q ’ energy level has light
of right frequency acting on it,
 it absorbs photons of that light and the
transition takes place from lower energy
level ‘q ’ to higher energy level ‘p
 This phenomenon of the movement of an
atom to the higher energy level is called
absorption
 Laser
 Transition of an atom from the higher
energy level ‘p ’ back to the lower energy
level ‘q ’ is known as emission.
 The emission could be one of the two kinds,
viz spontaneous emission (independent of
light intensity) and stimulated emission
(influenced by the intensity o f light).
 Laser
 horizontal line : allowed value of energy of
an atom at that energy level.
 Let an atom (or molecule) be brought to
 high energy level (say, E3) by an outside
energy source (say, heat, light, chemical,
etc).
 if it is allowed to decay back to its ground
state energy level (E0),
 a photon (unit of light) is released
 Laser
 If this photon comes in contact with another
molecule or atom at high energy level (E3)
 Then this atom will also decay back to
ground state releasing another ‘photon’.
 This chain of events would produce photons
having same characteristics (viz
wavelength, phase, direction and energy).
 This sequence of triggering clone photons
from stimulated atoms (or molecules) is
known as stimulated emission.
 Laser
 Stimulated emission forms the basis of laser
operation.
 This process is reverse of the one in which
photons (or electromagnetic waves) are
absorbed by atomic system.
 Further, to produce a working laser, the
energy source should be so .powerful that
most of the atoms (or molecules) of the
lasing material are at their higher energy
level.
 Laser
 It is known as population inversion and
refers to the population of atoms/molecules
in the lasering material
 Feedback mechanism is an essential
element of the laser producing system.
 It captures and redirects a part of the
coherent photons back into the active
medium.
 These photons further stimulate the
emission of some more photons of the
same frequency and phase.
 Laser
 This mechanism also permits a small
percentage of coherent photons to exit the
system in the form of laser light.
 This laser light is utilized for various useful
purposes
 Rest of the photons remain in the system
and are responsible to maintain the
amplification process through stimulated
emission.
 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF LASER BEAM MACHINING

 Laser light is monochromatic,

 i e its wavelength occupies a very narrow
portion of the spectrum
 a simple lens is able to focus and
concentrate laser light to a spot of much
smaller diameter and
 much higher intensity than that obtained by
other types of light.
 Laser light is coherent in nature (it travels in
phase)
 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF LASER BEAM MACHINING

 it gives higher focussed intensities than

normal light which is incoherent in nature
 The low divergence rate of lasers is also
responsible for high intensity of light.
 laser beam is a light source having unique
properties like
 high monochromaticity,
 high degree of coherence,
 high brightness,
 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF LASER BEAM MACHINING

 high peak power,

 high energy per pulse, and
 very small size of the focused spot.
 Wavelength of commonly used lasers lies
between 0.21 μm - 11 μm
 Ruby = 0.7 μm,
 Nd : YAG = 1.0 μm,
 CO ~ 2.7 μm and
 C0 2« 10.6 μm
Components of a Laser
 Laser Components
 Laser medium (a collection of atoms,
molecules, or ions),
 A pumping energy source required to excite
these atoms to higher energy level, and
 Optical feedback system
 Laser Components
 Gas laser consisting of a thin tube filled with
gas at low pressure.
 There are electrodes placed at both ends of
the tube.
 Electric current when passed through
provides sufficient energy to stimulate the
atoms/molecules of the gas in the tube.
Components of a Laser
 Laser Components
 the feedback mechanism for laser resonator
consists of
 parallel mirrors kept at the ends of the tube.
 One of these mirrors is fully reflective (HR
mirror)
 The other one is partially transparent to
provide the laser output (output mirror).
 It allows a beam of radiation to either pass
through, or bounce back and forth
repeatedly through the laser medium.
 Laser Components
 power density increased by focusing
 To perform a machining operation, laser
beam power density should lie between 1.5
x 106 to 1.5 x 108 W/cm2, and
 the workpiece should be kept very close to
prime focus.
 However, for welding, lower power densities
of the order of 1.5 x 104 to 1.5 x 105 W/cm2
are adequate.
 Laser Components
 reflection and transmission of
electromagnetic waves at the interface of
air-workpiece material can take place.
 depend on its reflectivity and absorption
coefficient at that wave length
 Laser Components
 one of the following events may take place:
 (i) in case of low intensity beam, there may
be no phase change of the irradiated
 work material;
 (ii) in case of high intensity beam, the work
surface temperature would rise up to
 or above its boiling point and vaporization
would lake place.
 Types of Laser
 Solid State Laser and
 Gas Laser
 Solid State Lasers
 poor thermal properties of solid state lasers
(viz ruby and Nd: glass),
 can’t be used for heavy duty work
 do not operate faster than 1 or 2 Hz
 for low pulse applications like spot welding,
 drilling, etc.
 Types of Laser
 Nd: YAG laser, most powerful in solid state
lasers,
 used for operations like cutting.
 mean power (< 1000 W) is much lower than
C02 laser.
 usually employed for light works.
 Types of Laser
 Gas Lasers
 C02, He, or N2 act as a lasing medium.
 These gases are recirculated and
replenished to reduce the operating cost.
 Direct electrical energy is used to provide
energy for stimulating lasing medium.
 Types of Laser
 Axial flow C02 laser is shown in Fig.
 power giving capacity is usually 100 W each
meter length of the tube.
 For higher powers up to 1500 W and
reduced floor space, folded resonator axial
flow C02 lasers are used.
 For very high power (several thousand
watts) and still very compact C02 laser is
known as transverse flow, or gas transport
laser.
 Types of Laser
 For larger power
 Large amount of gas volume is used.
 The resonator mirrors are positioned to
reflect the beam several times before it
escapes through the output mirror.
 Most of the lasers are computer controlled
to take advantage of their high speed
processing.
PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS

Laser beam power balance diagram

 PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS
 the various processes in which the laser
power is utilized during
 depend upon thermal and optical properties
of the work material, and
 intensity and pulse duration of the laser
beam
 High capital and operating cost, and low
machining efficiency (usually less than 1%)
prevent LBM from being competitive with
conventional machining techniques.
 PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS
 Industrial lasers operate either in continuous
wave mode (CW) or impulsed mode
 CW lasers are used for processes like
welding, laser chemical vapour deposition
(LCVD), surface hardening, etc
 uninterrupted supply of energy for melting
and phase transformation
 Controlled pulse energy is desirable for the
processes like cutting, drilling, marking, etc,
so that HAZ is minimum possible
 Heat Affected Zone (HAZ).
 As the feed rate in LBM increases,
 the thickness of the HAZ goes down
 Thickness of the HAZ is also governed by
1. the type of assisting gas and
2. its pressure (in case of gas assisted laser
cutting),
3. gas nozzle diameter, and
4. the distance between the nozzle tip and the
work piece.
 LBM Uses
 LBM process
 is capable of easily machining refractory,
brittle, hard, metallic, and nonmetallic
materials, viz cast-alloy, tungsten, titanium,
alumina, and diamond.
 It can machine through any optically
transparent material (say, glass). As long as
the beam path is not obstructed,
 it can be used to machine in otherwise
inaccessible areas
 LBM Uses
 The laser beam can operate through
transparent environment like air, gas,
vacuum, and in some cases even liquids.
 However, LBM cannot be applied to
highly conductive and reflective materials
which have high heat conductivity and or
high reflectivity (viz aluminium, copper, and
their alloys).