ULTRASONIC ASSISTED UNDERWATER LASER MICROMACHINING OF SILICON

ABSTRACT
Under water laser machining process provides a clean cut with smaller heat affected
zone
and material deposition in and near the cut region. However the cut debris and
bubbles
formed significantly disturbs the laser beam during the ablation in water which
further
decreases the effectiveness of the process. The present study aims at overcoming
the above
said limitation by utilizing ultrasonic vibrations. In this technique the formed
bubbles are
atomized and the cut debris is flushed away from the laser ablated region by
providing
ultrasound vibrations using an ultrasound transducer. Silicon was selected as the
work
material which was irradiated by a nanosecond pulse laser in water. The effects of
ultrasonic
power, ultrasonic frequency, water flow rate, laser pulse energy and laser traverse
speed on
groove geometry and surface morphology were investigated. The conclusion of the
study is
that ultrasonic assisted underwater laser machining technique can be used as an
alternative
micromachining process which has a higher material removal rate and better surface
quality
than the other methods.
REFERENCE : W. Charee, V. Tangwarodomnukun, C. Dumkum
Department of Production Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology
Thonburi,Bangkok 10140, Thailand
PRESENTED BY
JITHIN P
B4ENME1924
GCEK