Effects of Laser Pulse Duration on Pulse Laser Micro Polishing

Abstract

Pulsed laser micro polishing (PL?P) has been shown to be an effective method of polishing micro metallic parts whose surface roughness can approach the feature size. This paper will describe the influence of laser pulse duration on surface roughness reduction during PL?P. It will be shown that longer pulse durations attenuate longer wavelength features, with corresponding deeper yet small melt depths and that those pulse durations may result in convective flows, introducing additional short wavelength features, yet significantly reducing the average surface roughness. For this purpose, near-infrared laser pulses have been used to polish Ti6Al4V surfaces produced using the micro end milling process.