Metal drilling with a CO2 laser beam. II. Analysis of aluminum drilling experiments

Abstract

The penetration time, crater top radius, and melted zone for aluminum plates drilled with a CO2 laser beam have been measured and analyzed on the basis of various assumptions concerning absorptivity of the liquid metal, attenuation by the metal vapor and heat exchange with the vapor. By comparison with the experimental data it is shown that each of the interaction parameters must lie within a predetermined range in order to correlate all the experimental measurements. This ascertains the reliability of the theoretical approach and yields estimates of the a priori unknown parameters for the specific exposure conditions.