No abstract

This project is focused on developing physics-based models to predict the outcome of pulsed laser micro polishing (PLµP). Perry et al. [1][2][3] have modeled PLµP as oscillations of capillary waves with damping resulting from the forces of surface tension and viscosity and a one-dimensional spatial frequency domain analysis was proposed. They have also proposed a critical spatial frequency, f cr , above which a significant reduction in the amplitude of the spatial Fourier components is expected. The current work extends the concept of critical frequency to two dimensional spatial frequency analysis of PLµP. We propose a physics-based prediction methodology to predict the spatial frequency content and surface roughness after polishing, given the features of the original surface, the material properties, and laser parameters used for PLµP.The proposed prediction methodology was tested using PLµP line polishing data for stainless steel 316L and area polishing results for pure Nickel, Ti6Al4V, and Al-6061-T6. The predicted average surface roughnesses were within 10% to 12% of the values measured on the polished surfaces. The results show that the critical frequency continues to be a useful predictor of polishing results in the 2-D spatial frequency domain. The laser processing parameters, as represented by the critical frequency, and the initial surface texture can be used to predict the final surface roughness before actually implementing PLµP.

Extensive experimental work has shown that pulsed laser micro polishing (PLμP) is effective for polishing micro metallic parts. However, the process physics have not been fully understood yet, especially with respect to the melt pool flow. A reliable physical model can be of significant assistance in understanding the fluid flow in the melt pool and its effect on PLμP. In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric transient model that couples heat transfer and fluid flow is described that was constructed using the finite element method. The model not only provided the solutions to the temperature and velocity fields but also predicted the surface profile evolution on a free deformable surface. The simulated melt depth and resolidified surface profiles matched those obtained from optical images of PLμPed Ti6Al4V sample cross-sections. The model was also used to study the effect of laser pulse duration on the melt pool flow. The study suggests that longer pulses produce more significant fluid flows. The cut-off pulse duration between capillary and thermocapillary regimes, below which minimal Maragoni flow should be expected, was estimated to be 0.66 μs for Ti6Al4V, which also matched well with the experimental results. It is evident that the coupled model offers reliable predictions and thus can be extended for a more complex parametric study to provide further insights for PLμP.

Pulsed laser micro polishing (PLμP) has been shown to be an effective method of polishing micro metallic parts whose surface roughness can approach the feature size. Laser pulse duration in the PLμP process is an important parameter that significantly affects the achievable surface finish. This paper describes the influence of laser pulse duration on surface roughness reduction during PLμP. For this purpose, near-infrared laser pulses have been used to polish Ti6Al4V at three different pulse durations: 0.65 μs, 1.91 μs, and 3.60 μs. PLμP at longer pulse durations resulted in dominating Marangoni convective flows, yet significantly higher reductions in the average surface roughness were observed compared to the short pulse duration regime without convection.

The objective of this paper is to define and derive a dimensionless number as a function of material properties and process parameters to quantify the extent (magnitude) of thermocapillary flow in pulsed laser micropolishing (PLμP). Experimental work has shown that thermocapillary flow can tremendously reduce surface roughness (smoothing effect) although it inevitably introduces additional surface features (roughening effect) at the same time. Both the smoothing and roughening effects increase as the extent of thermocapillary flow increases. The extent of thermocapillary flow is the bridge from the available information (i.e., initial surface profile, material properties, and process parameters) to the polished surface profile to be predicted. A dimensionless number, called the normalized average displacement of a liquid particle in a single laser pulse, is proposed and derived via analytical heat transfer and fluid flow equations. The calculated normalized displacement is found to be proportional to the measured slope of the introduced features on Ti6Al4V surface polished with various process parameters, which indicates that the dimensionless number successfully describes the extent of thermocapillary flow. The normalized average displacement will be very useful for prediction of polished surface profile and hence parameter selection and process optimization in the future.