Parametric Study of Pulsed CO2 Laser Surface Treatment of Alumina Ceramics

Abstract

AbstractThis paper focuses on investigating the influence of laser power, pulse frequency and scanning speed on material removal rate and surface roughness during CO2 laser surface treatment of alumina ceramics. Pulse frequency and laser power were the significant factors influencing the material removal rate and surface roughness, respectively. Adequate response surface models were established to correlate the laser parameters and the measured responses. Grey relational analysis predicted the optimal responses at 90 W laser power, 5 kHz pulse frequency and 400 mm/s scanning speed. Desirability function based Multi objective optimization results indicated that minimum material removal rate (0.5117 mm3/s) and surface roughness (0.5968 µm) are achieved at 90 W laser power, 5 kHz pulse frequency and 337.37 mm/s scanning speed which were in close agreement with Grey Relational results. Increase in homogeneity and smoothness of the laser treated alumina surface along with formation of micro recast particles away from the laser traverse path were evidenced by the SEM micrographs.