Influence of liquid medium with different absorption and its layer thickness on bovine bone tibia ablation induced by CO₂laser

Abstract

Liquid-assisted laser ablation has been investigated in laser surface cleaning, laser osteotomy, and dental tissue ablation.However, the actual mechanism of liquid-assisted ablation is not clear yet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of liquid medium with different absorption and the liquid thickness on laser ablation efficiency. A pulsed CO2 laser was employed to ablate bovine bone tibia under liquid layer which varied from 0.6 mm to 2 mm. The applied pulse power level was set at 5 w and each crater was produced with six laser pulses. The results showed that the ablation cross-section area produced with various levels of pure water thickness (0.6, 0.8, 1 and 2 mm)were lower than under ink, and the ablation depth gradually decreased as the water layer becoming thicker. The biggest cross-section area in liquid thickness of ink was 0.8mm, but as the layer thicker than 0.8 mm the ablation depth decreased suddenly. There was thermal damage seen on samples in all of the groups, but less in pure water.