SEMINAR

REPORT
TOPIC: LASER BEAM MACHINING

BY

NAVAROJ KM
ROHITH PR
SREERAM R
SHINTO G
VISHNU PP

INTRODUCTION

Laser Beam Machining or more broadly laser material processing deals with
machining and material processing like heat treatment, alloying, cladding, sheet
metal bending etc. Such processing is carried out utilizing the energy of
coherent photons or laser beam, which is mostly converted into thermal energy
upon interaction with most of the materials.
The cost of cutting hard-to-machine materials by conventional mechanical
machining processes is high due to the low material removal rate and short tool
life, and some materials are not possible to be cut by the conventional
machining process at all. Laser beam machining is the machining processes
involving a laser beam as a heat source. It is a thermal process used to remove
materials without mechanical engagement with work piece material where the
work piece is heated to melting or boiling point and removed by melt ejection,
vaporization, or ablation mechanisms. In contrast with a conventional machine
tool, the laser radiation does not experience wear, and material removal is not
dependent on its hardness but on the optical properties of the laser and the
optical and thermo physical properties of the material.
Laser-beam machining (LBM) is accomplished by precisely manipulating a
beam of coherent light to vaporize unwanted material. Laser beam can very
easily be focused using optical lenses as their wavelength ranges from half
micron to around 70 microns. Focussed laser beam as indicated earlier can have
power density in excess of 1 MW/mm2. As laser interacts with the material, the
energy of the photon is absorbed by the work material leading to rapid
substantial rise in local temperature. This in turn results in melting and
vaporisation of the work material and finally material removal.
LBM is particularly suited to making accurately placed holes. It can be used to
perform precision micromachining on all microelectronic substrates such as
ceramic, silicon, diamond, and graphite. Examples of microelectronic
micromachining include cutting, scribing & drilling all substrates, trimming any
hybrid resistors, patterning displays of glass or plastic and trace cutting on
semiconductor wafers and chips.

PROCESS DETAILS OF LBM

LBM uses the light energy of a laser beam to remove material

by vaporization and ablation. In this process the energy of
coherent light beam is focused optically for pre-decided longer
period of time. The beam is pulsed so that the released energy
results in an impulse against the work surface that does
melting and evaporation. Here the way of metal removing is
same as that of EDM process but method of generation of heat
is different. The application of heat is very finely focused in
case of LBM .
Process details of LBM are shown in line diagram

Laser Tube and Lamp Assembly

This is the main part of LBM setup. It consists of a laser tube, a
pair of reflectors, one at each end of the tube, a flash tube or
lamp, an amplification source, a power supply unit and a
cooling system. This whole setup is fitted inside a enclosure,
which carries good quality reflecting surfaces inside. In this
setup the flash lamp goes to laser tube, that excites the atoms
of the inside media, which absorb the radiation of incoming
light energy. This enables the light to travel to and fro between
two reflecting mirrors. The partial reflecting mirror does not
reflect the total light back and a part of it goes out in the form

of a coherent stream of monochromatic light. This highly

amplified stream of light is focused on the work piece with the
help of converging lens. The converging lens is also the part of
this assembly

Work piece
The range of work piece material that can be machined by LBM
includes high hardness and strength materials like ceramics,
glass to softer materials like plastics, rubber wood, etc. A good
work piece material has high light energy absorption power,
poor reflectivity, poor thermal conductivity, low specific heat,
low melting point and low latent heat.

Cooling Mechanism
A cooling mechanism circulates coolant in the laser tube
assembly to avoid its overheating in long continuous operation.

Feed Mechanism Tool

There is no tool used in the LBM process. Focusing laser beam
at a pre-decided point in the work piece serve the purpose of
tool. As the requirement of being focused shifts during the
operation, its focus point can also be shifted gradually and
accordingly by moving the converging lens in a controlled
manner. This movement of the converging lens is the tool feed
mechanism in LBM process.

PROCESS PRINCIPLE
THE LASING PROCESS
Lasing process describes the basic operation of laser, i.e. generation of coherent (both
temporal and spatial) beam of light by light amplification using stimulated emission.

In the model of atom, negatively charged electrons rotate

around the positively charged nucleus in some specified orbital
paths. The geometry and radii of such orbital paths depend on
a variety of parameters like number of electrons, presence of
neighbouring atoms and their electron structure, presence of
electromagnetic field etc. Each of the orbital electrons is
associated with unique energy levels. At absolute zero
temperature an atom is considered to be at ground level, when
all the electrons occupy their respective lowest potential
energy. The electrons at ground state can be excited to higher
state of energy by absorbing energy form external sources like
increase in electronic vibration at elevated temperature,
through chemical reaction as well as via absorbing energy of
the photon. Fig depicts schematically the absorption of a
photon by an electron. The electron moves from a lower energy
level to a higher energy level.

On reaching the higher energy level, the electron reaches an

unstable energy band. And it comes back to its ground state
within a very small time by releasing a photon. This is called
spontaneous emission. Schematically the same is shown in Fig.
The spontaneously emitted photon would have the same
frequency as that of the exciting photon.
Sometimes such change of energy state puts the electrons in a
meta-stable energy band. Instead of coming back to its ground
state immediately (within tens of ns) it stays at the elevated
energy state for micro to milliseconds. In a material, if more
number of electrons can be somehow pumped to the higher
meta-stable energy state as compared to number of atoms at
ground state, and then it is called population inversion. Such
electrons, at higher energy meta-stable state, can return to the
ground state in the form of an avalanche provided stimulated
by a photon of suitable frequency or energy. This is called
stimulated emission If it is stimulated by a photon of suitable
energy then the electron will come down to the lower energy
state and in turn one original photon, another emitted photon
by stimulation having some temporal and spatial phase would
be available. In this way coherent laser beam can be produced.
Fig schematically shows working of a laser. There is a gas in a
cylindrical glass vessel. This gas is called the lasing medium.
One end of the glass is blocked with a 100% reflective mirror
and the other end is having a partially reflective mirror.
Population inversion can be carried out by exciting the gas
atoms or molecules by pumping it with flash lamps. Then

stimulated emission would initiate lasing action. Stimulated

emission of photons could be in all directions. Most of the
stimulated photons, not along the longitudinal direction would
be lost and generate waste heat. The photons in the
longitudinal direction would form coherent, highly directional,
intense laser beam.

LASING MEDIUM
Many materials can be used as the heart of the laser.
Depending on the lasing medium lasers are classified as solid
state and gas laser. Solid-state lasers are commonly of the
following type
Ruby which is chromium alumina alloy having a
wavelength of 0.7 m
Nd-glass lasers having a wavelength of 1.64 m
Nd-YAG laser having a wavelength of 1.06 m
These solid-state lasers are generally
processing.
The generally used gas lasers are
Helium Neon
Argon
CO2 etc.

used

in

material

Lasers can be operated in continuous mode or pulsed mode.

Typically CO2 gas laser is operated in continuous mode and Nd
YAG laser is operated in pulsed mode .

CONSTRUCTION OF LASER
Fig shows a typical Nd-YAG laser. Nd-YAG laser is pumped
using flash tube. Flash tubes can be helical, as shown in Fig, 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.
Fig shows the electrical circuit for operation of a solid-state
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 .

Fig shows a CO2 laser. Gas lasers can be axial flow, as shown in
Fig, transverse flow and folded axial flow as shown in. The
power of a CO2 laser is typically around 100 Watt per metre 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.
In a CO2 laser, a mixture of CO2, N2 and He continuously
circulate through the gas tube. Such continuous recirculation of
gas is done to minimize Consumption of gases. CO2 acts as the
main lasing medium whereas Nitrogen helps in sustaining the

gas plasma. Helium on the other hand helps in cooling the

gases. As shown in Fig high voltage is applied at the two ends
leading to discharge and formation of gas plasma. Energy of
this discharge leads to population inversion and lasing action.
At the two ends of the laser we have one 100% reflector and
one partial reflector. The 100% reflector redirects the photons
inside the gas tube and partial reflector allows a part of the
laser beam to be issued so that the same can be used for
material processing. Typically the laser tube is cooled externally
as well.

MERITS AND
DEMERITS
Traditional machining includes the use of metal
machining tools such as planers, lathes and mills. This
process uses sharpened metal pieces to cut and shape
other metal objects. Though this can be done with
precision, a nontraditional method of machining known as
laser beam machining, or LBM, can be used to cut metal
with even greater precision on numerous surfaces
including those not made from metal.

MERITS
Material Vaporization
According to EngineersHandbook, laser beam machining
is precisely manipulating a beam of coherent light to
vaporize unwanted material. The intensity of the laser
used in such applications can be manipulated to bore
precise holes on numerous surfaces without machine
waste. The laser vaporizes material instead of moving it
as with traditional machining tools, making the cuts and
holes much cleaner and free of debris

Precision

In traditional machining, the work-piece and the

machining tool have to be precisely calibrated and
measured, then once the piece is moved, all
measurements must be made a second time. This is
done to make cuts and shape metals to specific degrees
and angles or to form a specific diameter and depth for

cuts or holes. With laser beam machining, the machine

can be set to the specifics of the project and make the
desired cuts or holes with a precision down to one
micron. Once set, the machining process will run
automatically and take less time, making second or
third measurements unnecessary.
Versatility
Laser beam machining as compared to traditional
machining processes is much gentler. With laser beam
machining, the machinist is able to machine cut thin
pieces of metal and other material without worrying about
damaging or otherwise warping the piece as with
traditional machining tools. The variety of material that
laser beam machining can work on is also much greater
than with conventional machining tools. According to
EngineersHandbook, the laser can execute scribing,
marking and drilling; cut thin metals and ceramics; trim
resistors; and process silicon, plastic, graphite and
diamond with tolerances to one micron.

DEMERITS
1. Uneconomic on high volumes compared to stamping.

2. Limitation on thickness due to taper

3. High capital cost

4. High maintenance cost

5. Assistor

cover

gas required

APPLICATIONS OF LBM
The adaptability of laser beam machining allows them to
perform more than one function, and the wide range of
industries that often use laser beam machining technology
includes automakers and jewellers.
Laser can be used in wide range of manufacturing applications
Material removal drilling, cutting and tre-panning
Welding
Cladding
Alloying
Drilling micro-sized holes using laser in difficult to machine
materials is the most dominant application in industry. In laser
drilling the laser beam is focused over the desired spot size. For
thin sheets pulse laser can be used. For thicker ones continuous
laser may be used.