Laser machining

Laser beam machining (LBM) is a non-traditional subtractive manufacturing process, a form of machining, in which a laser is directed towards the work piece for machining. This process uses thermal energy to remove material from metallic or nonmetallic surfaces. The laser is focused onto the surface to be worked and the thermal energy of the laser is transferred to the surface, heating and melting or vaporizing the material.Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is called laser beam. Laser beam machining is best suited for brittle materials with low conductivity, but can be used on most materials.

There are many different types of lasers including gas, solid states lasers, and excimer.

In gas lasers, an electric current is liberated from a gas to generate a consistent light. Some of the most commonly used gases consist of; He-Ne, Ar, and CO2. Fundamentally, these gases act as a pumping medium to ensure that the necessary population inversion is attained.

Solid state lasers are designed by doping a rare element into various host materials. Unlike in gas lasers, solid state lasers are pumped optically by flash lamps or arch lamps. Ruby is one of the frequently used host materials in this type of laser. A Ruby Laser is a type of the solid state laser whose laser medium is a synthetic ruby crystal. These ruby lasers generate deep red light pulses of a millisecond pulse length and a wavelength of about 694.3 nm. The synthetic ruby rod is optically pumped using a xenon flashtube before it is used as an active laser medium.

YAG is an abbreviation for yttrium aluminum garnet which are crystals that are used for solid-state lasers while Nd:YAG refers to neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet crystals that are used in the solid-state lasers as the laser medium. The Nd:YAG lasers emit a wavelength of light waves with high energy. Nd:glass is neodymium–doped gain media made of either silicate or phosphate materials that are used in fiber laser.

In excimer lasers, the state is different than in solid state or gas lasers. The device utilizes a combination of reactive and inert gases to produce a beam. This machine is sometimes known as an ultraviolet chemical laser.

The cutting depth of a laser is directly proportional to the quotient obtained by dividing the power of the laser beam by the product of the cutting velocity and the diameter of the laser beam spot.

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