Girolamo Mincuzzi

Texturing metal surface with MHz ultra-short laser pulses

We show, for the first time to our knowledge, the role the heat accumulation plays on the evolution of ultra-short pulse laser-induced surface structures morphology when varying fluence, the number of scans and the repetition rate from 100 kHz up to 2 MHz. We demonstrate how to tailor the size of micro-spikes from nearly ten microns to several tens of microns by a systematic variation of both fluence and overlap. We believe our results will contribute to an in deep understanding of the mechanisms underlying laser surface structuration at high repetition rates.

Ablation efficiency of high average power ultrafast laser

Nowadays, the relevance of ultrashort laser is well established for many medical or industrial applications. Indeed, the ultrashort laser technology has reached a high level of robustness which makes it compatible with the needs of industry. This laser technology combines the unique capacity to process any type of material with an outstanding precision and a minimal heat affected zone. Thanks to high average power and high repetition rate it is possible to achieve high throughput providing that the operating parameters are finely tuned to the application, otherwise heat accumulation and heat affected zone may appear. In this paper, the authors report on high throughput single pass ablation of stainless steel with a high average power Yb-doped fiber ultrashort pulse laser which is tunable in pulse duration from 350 fs to 10 ps and in repetition rate from 200 kHz to 2 MHz. The influence of pulse duration, repetition rate, fluence, energy dose, and scanning velocity will be discussed in terms of ablation eff...

Metal deep engraving with high average power femtosecond lasers

Deep engraving of 3D textures is a very demanding process for the creation of master tool e. g molds, forming tools or coining dies. As these masters are uses for reproduction of 3D patterns the materials for the tools are typically hard and brittle and thus difficult to machine. The new generation of industrial femtosecond lasers provides both high accuracy engraving results and high ablation rates at the same time. Operation at pulse energies of typically 40 μJ and repetition rates in the Mhz range the detrimental effect of heat accumulation has to be avoided. Therefore high scanning speeds are required to reduce the pulse overlap below 90%. As a consequence scan speeds in the range of 25-50 m/s a needed, which is beyond the capability of galvo scanners. In this paper we present results using a combination of a polygon scanner with a high average power femtosecond laser and compare this to results with conventional scanners. The effects of pulse energy and scan speed of the head on geometrical accuracy are discussed. The quality of the obtained structures is analyzed by means of 3D surface metrology microscope as well as SEM images.

Generation of micro- and nano-morphologies on a stainless steel surface irradiated with 257 nm femtosecond laser pulses

Surface structuring by femtosecond lasers has emerged as an efficient tool to functionalize the surfaces of various solid materials. Laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) can drastically impact the wetting, friction and optical properties of the surface depending on the size, aspect ratio and period of the structures. Morphological characteristics in the nanoscale, such as nano roughness, contributing to a hierarchical surface formation are considered to have a significant impact on those properties. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge the feasibility of inducing ripples and spikes utilizing a 257 nm femtosecond laser. LIPSS with a period smaller than 200 nm were realised. Furthermore, we show the evolution of those structures into conical spikes for this wavelength, and we provide an interpretation on their formation. Finally, we show that sub 200 nm LIPSS can create subwavelength gratings providing non-angular dependent light reflection and non-periodic morphologies showing super hydrophobic behaviour.

Exploring polygon scanner head capabilities for ultra-short pulse laser texturing

The combination of both, fast beam scanning systems and high repetition rate, high average power lasers, represents an interesting technological solution for surface texturing by Ultra-Short Pulses Laser to gain a foothold into industrial environment for commercial purposes. Nevertheless unwanted thermal effects are expected when the average power exceeds some tens of W. An interesting strategy for a reliable heat management would consists of texturing surfaces with a low fluence values (slightly higher than the ablation threshold) and utilising a polygon scanning head which is able to deflect the laser beam with unprecedented speed. Here we show that over stainless steel, it is possible to obtain different surface textures (in particular ripples, micro grooves and spikes) by utilising a 2 MHz femtosecond laser jointly with a fast and accurate polygonal scanner head at relatively low fluence (0.11 J·cm-2). The evolution of the Laser induced surface structures morphology is shown when varying the scan speed between 25 m·s-1 and 90 m·s-1. Two different wavelengths have been utilised for the process λ= 1030 nm and λ = 515 nm and the difference of the results obtained have been highlighted. Moreover, a full structures morphology characterization by SEM has been carried out for all the textured surfaces. Finally, by increasing the number of successive surface scans is possible to tailor the surface reflectivity. As a result an average reflectivity value of < 5% over the visible range has been extracted from a blackened stainless steel surface.

2D laser induced periodic surface structures with double cross-polarized pulses

We present a systematic study on the generation of 2D surface structures on stainless steel, using double, crosspolarized femtosecond pulses with variable interpulse delay. We demonstrate the combined effect of the interpulse delay and key process parameters in order to obtain periodic structures. The sets of double pulses were produced utilizing a modified Michelson interferometer with interpulse delay varying from -100 ps to +2 ns. The study was carried out with an industrial laser having pulse duration of 350 fs, emitting in the near infrared (λ = 1030 nm), operating at 100 kHz coupled with a Galvo scanner. We evaluate the obtained surface morphology and structure period using SEM characterization and Fourier analysis.

New fast galvo scanner head for high throughput micromachining

Femtosecond lasers have been proved to be an effective fabrication tool to process with high machining quality and negligible thermal effects a wide variety of materials. However, the system technology enabling fast and precise scanning on the workpiece, currently limits the average power of these laser sources to less than 10 Watts of average power in most industrial application. To overcome this limitation, a proportional up-scaling of both, the laser repetition rate and scan speed is needed, demanding for faster scanning technologies. Recently, rugged, femtosecond lasers delivering pulses with repetition rates of several MHz and pulse energy up to some hundreds of μJ have been introduced to the market. In parallel, the development and commercialization of novel galvanometric scanner heads, enabling scan speeds well above 10 m/s is ongoing. Here we explored the capabilities of a novel set-up consisting of an industrial femtosecond laser delivering 100 W with a repetition rate up to 13 MHz coupled with an innovative galvanometric scanner head enabling scan speeds up to 30 m·s-1. On stainless steel, we carried out engraving tests with both single line grooving and multiple surface raster scanning. By systematic variation of repetition rate and pules overlap we investigate how the machining quality and the ablation rate depend on the average laser power at different fluence levels. Heat accumulation effects are evaluated via Scanning Electron Microscope. Finally, we show how to scale-up the cutting of a 500 μm thick stainless-steel part varying the scan speed from 1 m·s-1 to 20 m·s-1.

Correlation between ablation efficiency, surface morphology, and multipass capability using a 100-W 10-MHz ultrafast laser

Nowadays the relevance and the robustness of ultrafast lasers are well established for many industrial applications. Indeed this laser technology combines the unique capacity to process any type of material with an outstanding processing precision and a minimal heat affected zone. The key issue is to combine high throughput, low residual thermal load and good processing quality. Thanks to high average power and high repetition rate it is possible to achieve high throughput providing that the operating parameters are precisely tuned to the application, otherwise heat accumulation and heat affected zone may appear, leading to detrimental effects such as burr, uncontrolled melting and metal oxidation. In this paper we report on high-throughput laser ablation of metals using a 100W- and 10MHz- ultrafast laser. Target materials were stainless steel, Copper, and Aluminum. Operating parameters such as fluence, repetition rate and scanning velocity have been considered. Results are discussed in terms of ablation efficiency, surface morphology, multipass and upscaling capabilities. Different behaviors between materials are also discussed. We observe that pulse-to-pulse pitch and delay are key parameters that must be taken into account in order to define relevant process windows for each material. The use of polygon scanner instead of galvo scanner enables us to reduce the thermal load along the laser trajectory. The point is not to avoid heat accumulation but to take advantage of this phenomenon as long as the target material can stand the thermal load without detrimental effects on the processing quality.

Controlling laser-induced features morphology on stainless steel surfaces using high average power femtosecond laser

Ultra-short pulse (USP) Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) namely ripples, micro-grooves and spikes [1] have received considerable attention since they can modify some key surface properties like wettability, colour and tribology, increasing the materials internal value [2]. Nevertheless, the complete understanding of the physical mechanisms leading to LIPSS formation is still under debate. Even so, at repetition rate values as high as several kHz, the fluence Φ and the overall energy irradiated over a unit surface (dose) have been identified as the physical parameters playing a major role in the structures generation process [3][4][5].

High speed ultrafast laser surface processing (Conference Presentation)

Surface functionalization is a rapidly growing application for industrial ultrafast lasers. There is an increasing interest for high throughput surface processing, especially for texturing and engraving large manufacturing tools for different industrial fields such as injection molding, embossing and printing. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, colored or deep black metal surfaces can now be industrially produced. The engraving speed is continuously improving following improvements in beam scanning technology and high average power industrial ultrafast lasers. Several tenths of MHz for the laser repetition rate and several hundreds of meter per second for the beam speed are available. More than 100 m/s scanning speed is then possible for laser surface structuring. But these surfaces are quite hard to produce since it is necessary to have a good compromise between high removal rate and high surface quality (low roughness, burr-free, narrow heat affected zone). In this work, we apply a simple engineering model based on the two temperature description of ultra-fast ablation to estimate key processing parameters. In particular, the pulse-to-pulse overlap which depends on the scanning velocity, the spot size, and the laser repetition rate all have to be adjusted to optimize the depth and roughness, otherwise heat accumulation and heat affected zone may appear. Optimal sequences of time and spatial superposition of pulses are determined and applied with a polygonal scanner. Ablation depth and processing speed obtained are compared with experimental results.