NON TRADITIONAL MACHINING

MODULE 5

MURTHY RAJ R
1MV19MCM02
M TECH CIM
SIR. MVIT
TOPICS

• Laser Beam Machining

• Ion Beam Machining
Laser Beam Machining

INTRODUCTION

 Laser-beam machining is a thermal material-removal process

that utilizes a high-energy, coherent light beam to melt and
vaporize particles on the surface of metallic and nonmetallic
workpieces.
 Lasers can be used to cut, drill, weld and mark.

 LBM is particularly suitable for making accurately placed

holes.
Principles Of Generation Of Lasers
 The full form of LASER is Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
 When electrons of an atom are provided an external energy
source, they absorbs energy from the external source.
 By absorbing the energy these electrons jump from their
original energy level to higher energy level.
 But this is not stable condition of atoms, so this electron
emits absorbed energy in the form of photons of light and
come back to its original state.
 This emission of photons by electrons is called spontaneous
emission.
 The atom will emit double energy if it is already at higher
energy level and it again absorbs energy.
 The energy emitted by atom will have same frequency and
wavelengths as that of stimulating source.
 This is the fundamental principle on which laser works.
Equipment and Machining Procedure
 Power Supply

The power supply is used in laser beam machining to

provide energy for the excitation of electron from lower
energy level to higher energy level.

 Laser Discharge Tube

Laser material is filled in laser discharge tube.
The excitation of electron and coming back to its original
state takes place inside this laser discharge tube.
One side of discharge tube is partially transparent and
other side is 100% reflected.
It is situated between the xenon lamps.
Equipment and Machining Procedure
(Cont.)
 Laser Material

 There are many kinds of  laser materials available but in

laser machining mostly CO2 and nd:YAG is used. 
 Carbon dioxide is a laser material which emits light in
infrared region.
 Carbon dioxide can provide power upto 25 KW power in
continuous wave mode. bd:YAG is a solid state laser which
can deliver light through optical fiber.
 In pulse mode it can produce upto 50 kW power and in
continuous mode it can produce power upto 1 KW.
 Focusing lens
Focusing lens is used to focus the light at the workpiece. It is
a convex lens.
Machining Procedure
 At first laser material CO2 or other laser material is
filled into discharge tube.
 After that the power supply is switched on which is
used to light up the flash lamp.
 The light from flash lamp is used to excite the electrons
of atom.
 Then the atoms of laser material absorbs energy from
the light energy produced by flash lamp.
 Due to absorption of energy, the electron of atom jump
from lower energy level to higher energy level. But this
is unstable condition of atom.
Machining Procedure (Cont.)
 When the atom reaches its absorption limit, it starts
emitting energy continuously.
 This energy is emitted in the form of highly amplified
same frequency and same wavelength coherent light.
 This laser light released by atom is collected in the
convex lens and is directed towards the workpiece.
 As the laser falls on workpiece, it starts the machining
process by melting or vaporizing material from contact
surface of workpiece
Types of Lasers
 GAS LASERS
An electric current is liberated from a gas to generate a consistent light. Some of the
most commonly used gases consist of; He-Ne, Ar, and CO2. Fundamentally, these
gases act as a pumping medium to ensure that the necessary population inversion is
attained.

 SOLID STATE LASERS

They are designed by doping a rare element into various host materials. Unlike in gas
lasers, solid state lasers are pumped optically by flash lamps or arch lamps. Ruby is
one of the frequently used host materials in this type of laser. A Ruby Laser is a type
of the solid state laser whose laser medium is a synthetic ruby crystal. These ruby
lasers generate deep red light pulses of a millisecond pulse length and a wavelength
of about 694.3 nm. The synthetic ruby rod is optically pumped using a xenon
flashtube before it is used as an active laser medium.

 EXCIMER LASERS
The state is different than in solid state or gas lasers. The device utilizes a
combination of reactive and inert gases to produce a beam. This machine is
sometimes known as an ultraviolet chemical laser.
GAS LASERS
• Gas lasers can be axial flow, as shown in fig. given below, transverse
flow and folded axial flow.
• The power of a CO2 laser is typically around 100 watt per meter of tube
length.
• Thus to make a high power laser, a rather long tube is required which is
quite inconvenient.
• For optimal use of floor space, high-powered CO2 lasers are made of
folded design. CO2 LASER.
SOLID STATE LASERS
 ND-YAG laser is pumped using flash tube.
 Flash tubes can be helical, as shown in fig. give below, or they can
be flat.
 Typically the lasing material is at the focal plane of the flash tube.
Though helical flash tubes provide better pumping, they are
difficult to maintain. ND-YAG LASER.
 The flash tube is operated in pulsed mode by charging and
discharging of the capacitor.
 Thus the pulse on time is decided by the resistance on the flash
tube side and pulse off time is decided by the charging resistance.
 There is also a high voltage switching supply for initiation of
pulses. SOLID-STATE LASER.
EXCIMER LASERS
 Excimer is a term used today to describe a family of lasers with
similar output characteristics, in that they all emit powerful pulses
lasting nanoseconds or tens of nanoseconds, at wavelengths in or
near the ultraviolet, and the lasing medium is a diatomic molecule,
or dimer, in which the component atoms are bound in the excited
state but not in the ground state. 
 The most common optical material used in these lasers is
magnesium fluoride, which is more transparent than quartz or
fused silicon (which is also used) at short wavelength. Sapphire is
also used as a window material in ArF lasers.
ADVANTAGES
 It can be used to cut aby material.
 No tool cost because no physical tool is required and hence no cost
for maintenance and replacement of tools.
 No delamination is caused as there is no physical contact with the
workpiece.
 It can be easily automated and is very flexible.
 Complex shapes of different sizes can be machined as laser can be
moved in any path.
 It gives very good surface finish.
 Micro holes can be drilled in workpiece with high accuracy.
LIMITATIONS
 High initial capital cost.
 High maintenance cost.
 Not very efficient process.
 Presence of Heat Affected Zone – specially in gas assist
CO2 laser cutting.
 Thermal process – not suitable for heat sensitive materials
like aluminum glass fiber laminate.
APPLICATION
 Welding of non-conductive and refractory material.
 Cutting complex profiles for both thin and hard
materials.
 Used to make tiny holes. Such as the holes in the
nipples of the baby feeder.
 Mass-micro machining
 Can be used for dynamic balance of rotating parts.
 Some special heat treatment of materials.
 For producing fine and minute holes.
Ion Beam Machining
INTRODUCTION

 The system consists of an ion source that produces sufficient

intense beam of ions, for the removal of atoms from the work
surface by impingement of ions.
 A heated tungsten filament acts as the cathode from which
the electrons are accelerated by means of a high voltage(1 kV
to 100kV) towards the anode.
 Once the ions strike the machined surface obliquely, the atom
ejection occurs due to the collision.
Ion Beam Machining
(Cont.)
 At higher energies sufficient momentum causes removal of
several atoms from the surface.
 Many microscopic damage centers will result from the
energetic displacements of the atoms.
 Clearly it is not desirable from surface quality point of view.
The low energy case is more ideal.
(Cont.)
 The process is different from electric discharge, electron beam,
laser and plasma arc machining in that the process does not
depend on heating of the workpiece to the point of evaporation.
 This sputter etching mechanism is very simple. It consists in
bombarding the work with accelerated ions which collide with
the surface atoms of the work. Each bombarding ions, as a
result of collisions, dislodges surface atoms by transferring
kinetic energy from itself to the atoms of the surface layer.
 It consists of an electron gun which discharges free electrons
into a chamber filled with argon gas. The gas is then ionized by
the electrons. The top of the chamber is called an Ion-Beam
generating apparatus. At the other end, the workpiece is fixed
to a table which can be oscillated and rotated so that different
points on the work surface can be subjected to ion-beam.
Application
 IBM is used in smoothing of laser mirrors as well as reducing
the thickness of thin films without affecting their surface finish.
 Using two opposing beams, a thin circular region on a rotating
sample can produce samples for transmission electron
microscopy.
 Polishing and shaping of optical surfaces by direct sputtering of
pre- forms in glass, silica, and diamond is performed using
patterning masks.
 The process can produce closely packed textured cones in
different materials including copper, nickel, stainless steel,
silver.
 Atomically clean surfaces can be produced by IBM that are used
in the adhesion of gold films to silicon and aluminum oxide