Influence of process parameters on drilling characteristics of

Al 1050 sheet with thickness of 0.2 mm using pulsed NdYAG laser

Dong-Gyu AHN, Gwang-Won JUNG


Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University, 375 Seosuk-dong, Dong-gu, Gwang-ju, 501-759, Korea

Received 2 March 2009; accepted 30 May 2009


Abstract: The object of this work is to investigate the influence of process parameters on drilling characteristics of an Al 1050 sheet
with a thickness of 0.2 mm using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser through numerical analyses and experiments. By comparing the numerical
analyses with the experiments, a proper numerical model was obtained. From the results of the numerical analyses and the
experiments, the effects of process parameters on entrance diameters of drilled holes, shapes of the holes, taper angles of the holes
and temperature distributions in the vicinity of the holes were examined quantitatively. In addition, the optimal drilling condition was
estimated to improve the quality of the drilled holes.
Key words: Al 1050 sheet; pulsed NdYAG laser; process parameters; drilled hole formation; temperature distribution; optimal
drilling condition



1 Introduction

Laser material processing technology has been used
to manufacture desired parts rapidly using subtractive
and addictive methodology[12]. Recently, the
application field of the laser drilling process has been
extended due to the growth in the market of electronics,
computers, communication products, and automotive
parts[34]. The non-contact machining characteristics of
the laser drilling process can reduce appreciably
problems related to mechanical piercing and boring of
thin sheets, such as serious deformation of the cut part,
eccentricity of the hole and crumbling of the cut section,
induced by direct contact of tools with the sheet metal
[3, 5]. The merits of a NdYAG laser, including a high
energy density, distinguished focusing characteristics, a
narrower heat affected zone, a better hole edge profile,
and the capability of the enhanced transmission through
plasma, make it an interesting application for precise
sheet metal drilling[1].
Thin aluminum sheets have been used in the
manufacture of printed circuit boards with many meso-
or micro-holes and in the fabrication of mobile phones
that require a number of small holes. The aluminum
sheet has inherent limitations, including the high
reflectivity, high conductivity and the distinguished
oxidation reaction, in terms of laser material processing
[4, 6]. The well-known manufacturing technologies of
meso- and micro-parts incorporating aluminum include
electrochemical machining, photolithography and micro-
electro-discharge machining[67]. Recent advances in
laser systems have enabled the laser to drill meso- and
micro-holes in aluminum sheets[6].
In a laser drilling process, the productivity of the
product and the quality of the drilled hole are dependent
on the combination of the process parameters, including
the laser power, the pulse duration time, the pulse
frequency, the focal distance, and the nozzle diameter[1].
TUNNA et al[6] researched the effects of the intensity,
wave length and spot diameter of the laser on the average
etch depth per pulse and the hole geometry in the drilling
of pure aluminum sheets using a pulsed NdYAG laser.
GHOREISHI et al[8] investigated the relationships and
parameter interactions between six controllable variables,
including laser peak power, laser pulse width, pulse
frequency, number of laser pulses, assist gas pressure,
and focal plane position, on the hole taper and circularity
in the laser percussion drilling of a stainless steel using a
pulsed YAG laser. During the laser drilling of the
material, a thermal field of the material is formed
continuously in the thickness direction[910]. The
thermal field is highly influenced by the arrangement of
the process parameters. The temperature distribution in

Corresponding author: Dong-Gyu AHN; Tel: +82-62-230-7043; Fax: +82-62-230-7234; E-mail: [email protected]
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the thermal field provides useful information for
controlling the dimension and shape of the drilled
hole[11]. SOLANA et al[12] provided a model to
analyze the drilling speeds and hole profiles for various
types of laser sources. They also estimated the required
energy to drill a hole according to the thickness of a
titanium plate and the variation of hole profiles
according to the focal position and the applied energy.
PETKOVSEK et al[13] studied the influence of
consecutive pulse numbers on the hole depth in the laser
drilling of different materials using a numerical analysis.
The objective of the present study is to investigate
the influence of process parameters, including the
duration time and the frequency of the pulse, on drilling
characteristics and to obtain the optimal drilling
condition in the drilling of an Al 1050 sheet with a
thickness of 0.2 mm using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser.
Transient heat transfer analyses considering the variation
of material properties according to the temperature were
performed using a commercial code ABAQUS to
examine the effects of the duration time and the
frequency of the pulse on temperature distributions in the
vicinity of the applied region of a laser beam. Laser
drilling experiments were performed using a PC-NC
controlled laser drilling system with pulsed Nd:YAG
laser to investigate the variation of the diameter, the
shape and the taper angle of the drilled hole according to
the drilling condition. The diameter, shape and the taper
angle of the drilled hole were measured via a scanning
electron microscope(SEM). By comparing the results of
numerical analyses and those of experiments, the validity
of the numerical analyses were discussed. Finally, the
optimal drilling condition was estimated to improve the
quality of the drilled hole.

2 Numerical analyses

In order to investigate the influence of the process
parameters on the temperature distribution in an Al 1050
sheet with a thickness of 0.2 mm during a drilling using a
pulsed NdYAG laser, a three-dimensionally transient
heat transfer analysis was carried out using the
commercial software ABAQUS V6.5. In the numerical
analysis, the process parameters were chosen as the
duration time and the frequency of the pulse of the laser.
The region of analysis was selected as 3.0 mm from the
center of the heat source in the radial direction, as shown
in Fig.1. The analysis region was represented by 1 947
nodes and 1 680 hexahedral elements. A biased mesh
structure, in which the meshes are concentrated on the
center of the heat source as well as on the upper and
bottom surface of the workpiece, was introduced to
consider rapid changes of temperature distributions in the
vicinity of the irradiated region of the laser and external


Fig.1 Mesh structure and boundary condition of transient heat
transfer analysis

surfaces of workpiece during the laser material
processing, as shown in Fig.1.
The thermal conductivity, specific heat and density
of the workpiece were considered to be temperature-
dependent, as shown in Fig.2(a). The melting point and
vaporization temperature of Al 1050 are 933 K and 2 740
K, respectively. Natural convection and radiation
conditions were applied to the entire external surface of
the analysis model. In addition, a forced convection
condition was applied to the projected region of the
assisted gas. The coefficients of the natural and forced
convections were set to be 10 W/(m
2
K) and 4 464
W/(m
2
K), respectively. The emissivity of Al 1050 was
set to be 0.09. The region, in which the temperature of
the workpiece is greater than the melting point of the Al
1050, was assumed to be the drilled region in the
numerical analysis.
The laser was assumed as a surface heat flux model
with a Gaussian distribution of intensity, as shown in
Eq.(1). As it is difficult to create a physical model with
accurate intensity of the evaporation heat in a numerical
analysis, the efficiency of the heat flux() was
introduced. The efficiency of the heat flux was estimated
through a comparison of the results of the experiments
and those of the numerical analyses. The absorption
coefficient() of the workpiece was set to be 0.2
according to the report of PIERRON et al[4]. The spot
radius(R) of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser was 0.2 mm.

=
2
p
m
2
2 exp

2
) (
R
r
F t
P
R
r I (1)

where I(r), r, , , P
m
, t
p
, F and R are the intensity
Dong-Gyu AHN, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 19(2009) s157s163

s159


Fig.2 Mean power of laser and thermal properties of Al 1050:
(a) Variation of density, specific heat and thermal conductivity
of Al 1050 according to temperature; (b) Variation of mean
power of laser according to duration time and frequency of
pulse (Input voltage 400 V)

distribution of laser per unit pulse, the radial distance
from the center of the laser beam, the efficiency, the
absorption coefficient of Al 1050, the mean power of the
laser, the duration time of the pulse, the frequency of the
pulse and the spot radius of the laser, respectively.
The mean power of the laser was measured by a
power meter (COHERENT Inc., PM150), as shown in
Fig.2(b). The input voltage of the laser was 400 V. The
duration time and the frequency of the laser were chosen
as 1.02.0 ms and 412 Hz, respectively. The diameter
of the nozzle was set to be 0.7 mm. The helium gas was
employed as the assisted gas to remove the oxidation
reaction. Hence, the oxidation reaction was not
considered in the numerical analyses. The dynamic
pressure at the nozzle tip was measured to estimate the
velocity of the assist gas. The estimated velocity of the
assisted gas was 345 m/s. Table 1 shows the condition of
the numerical analyses. The diameter was measured at
the entrance of the hole. The taper angle was estimated
by Eq.(2).
Table 1 Conditions of numerical analyses
Input
voltage/V
Duration
time/ms
Frequency/
Hz
Nozzle
diameter/
mm
Velocity of
assisted gas/
(ms
1
)
1.0 412 0.7 345
400
2.0 412 0.7 345

=

e en
1
2
tan

180
90
d d
t
(2)

where , t, d
en
and d
e
are the taper angle, the thickness of
workpiece, the entrance diameter of the hole, and the exit
diameter of the hole, respectively.

3 Experimental

Fig.3 illustrates the experimental set-up of the laser
drilling experiments. Laser drilling experiments were
carried out using a PC-NC based automatic laser drilling
system. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a maximum peak
power of 150 W was utilized. The transverse mode, the
wavelength and the spot size of the laser were TEM
00

mode, 1.064 m and 0.4 mm, respectively. The focal
distance was set to be 6.0 mm. The focal distance with
the minimum diameter and a feasible concentricity of the
hole was determined through preliminary tests.
Specimens with a length of 150 mm and a width of 150
mm were manufactured from an Al 1050 sheet. The
thickness of the specimen was 0.2 mm. The chemical
composition of the Al 1050 sheet is 99.90% of Al,
0.038% of Fe, 0.03% of Si, and 0.002% of Cu. The
experimental conditions were identical to those of the
numerical analyses, as shown in Table 1. The shape,
diameter and taper angle of the drilled hole were
observed by SEM and optical microscope. The taper
angle of the hole was estimated through the direct angle
measurement of the polished cross-section of the drilled


Fig.3 Experimental set-up of laser drilling experiments
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hole. The optimal drilling condition was obtained
through the comparison of the analytical and
experimental results.

4 Results and discussion

4.1 Entrance diameter of hole and temperature
distribution in vicinity of hole
Fig.4 shows the influences of the process
parameters on the temperature distribution and the
diameter on the top surface of the workpiece.
The analytical and experimental results showed a
good agreement in terms of the entrance diameter of the
drilled hole, as shown in Figs.4(a), (b), (c) and (e). These
figures show that the melted region and the entrance
diameter of the drilled hole increase as the duration time
of the pulse increases. This may be ascribed to the fact
that the increased mean power of the laser, which is
induced by additional duration time, as well as additional
interaction time between the workpiece and the laser,
increase the heat input applied to workpiece. The
increased heat input subsequently creates a wide melted
region in the radial direction in comparison with the
thickness direction.
The entrance diameter of the drilled hole increased
appreciably in proportion to the increase of the pulse
frequency, as shown in Fig.4(e). This occurred because
the increase of the pulse frequency accumulated the heat
input applied to the workpiece.
Fig.4(d) shows that the workpiece is not drilled


Fig.4 Influence of process parameters on temperature distribution and hole diameter: (a) Duration time 1 ms, frequency 12 Hz;
(b) Duration time 2 ms, frequency 4 Hz; (c) Duration time 2 ms, frequency 12 Hz; (d) Duration time 1 ms, frequency 4 Hz;
(e) Variation of entrance diameter; (f) Temperature distribution in radial direction at maximum temperature
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when the duration time and frequency of the pulse are
1 ms and 4 Hz, respectively. Through the observation of
the temperature distribution in the workpiece, as depicted
in Fig.4(f), it was observed that the maximum
temperature of the top surface is less than the
vaporization temperature of Al 1050 when the duration
time and frequency of the pulse are 1 ms and 4 Hz,
respectively. These results imply that the undrilling of
the workpiece results from the insufficient heat input to
initiate the ablation of the top surface of the workpiece.
Fig.4(e) shows that the entrance diameter of the
drilled hole ranges from 0.58 mm to 0.63 mm. The
results of the numerical analysis show that the
temperature in the workpiece decreases rapidly within
0.5 mm from the center of the heat flux in the radial
direction. Through an observation of the variation of the
temperature distribution according to the operation time
of the laser, it was found that the cooling rate of the
workpiece increases when the duration time of the pulse
decreases.

4.2 Hole shape and taper angle
Figs.5 and 6 show the effects of the process
parameters on the cross-section shape and the taper angle
of the drilled hole.
The results of the numerical analysis were
compared with those of the experiment from the
viewpoint of the edge profile of the drilled hole, as shown
in Fig.5(a). The comparison results showed that the edge
profile of the numerical analysis is similar to that of the
experiment exclusive of the dross attached region on the
bottom surface, as shown in Fig.5(a). The numerical
analysis could not, however, properly estimate the edge


Fig.5 Comparison of results of numerical analyses and those of
experiments: (a) Cross-section shape (Duration time 2 ms,
frequency 4 Hz); (b) Taper angles


Fig.6 Variation of cross-section of drilled hole: (a) Duration time 2 ms, frequency 4 Hz; (b) Duration time 2 ms, frequency 12 Hz;
(c) Duration time 1 ms, frequency 8 Hz; (d) Duration time 1 ms, frequency 12 Hz
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profile of a hole in the dross attached region because the
dynamic mass transfer phenomenon induced by the flow
of the molten material was not considered. Hence, the
taper angle of the drilled hole was measured within the
thickness of the workpiece.
The experimental results also showed that a drilled
hole with a guourd-shaped cross-section was created and
the taper angle of the drilled hole ranged from 6 to 23,
as shown in Fig.5(b).
By comparing Fig.5 with Fig.6, it is observed that
the taper angle of the drilled hole is minimized as the
dross attachment and the edge breakage disappear from
the bottom surface of the workpiece. Fig.5(b) and Fig.6(d)
show that the desired cross-section of the drilled hole
with the minimum taper angle and dross attachment is
created when the duration time and the frequency of the
pulse are 1 ms and 12 Hz, respectively. However, the
breakage at the bottom edge of the hole is augmented
appreciably, as shown in Fig.6(c), when the duration time
and the frequency of the pulse are 1 ms and 8 Hz,
respectively.
The experimental results show that the dross
attachment increases as the duration time of the pulse
increases, as depicted in Figs.6(a) and (b). This results
from the fact that an increased amount of mushy phase
material with a high viscosity, as induced by the
increased laser power and the laser interaction time with
the workpiece, in the vicinity of the drilled hole becomes
attached to the bottom surface of the workpiece due to
the continuous cooling of the mushy phase material
during the drop down of the material along the hole
surface. In addition, these figures show that the dross
attachment is augmented as the pulse frequency
increases.
Ejection of the melted materials on the top surface
scarcely occurred under the experimental conditions, as
shown in Fig.6. Melt erosion of the side walls of the
drilled hole was, however, initiated when the pulse
frequency was lower than 8 Hz and the pulse duration
time was 1 ms, as shown in Fig.6(c).
From the above results, the optimal drilling
condition was determined at a pluse duration time of
1 ms and a pulse frequency of 12 Hz. In addition, it was
confirmed that a drilled hole with a taper angle of 6 and
an entrance diameter of 0.61 mm can be created at the
optimal drilling condition.

5 Conclusions

1) The analytical and experimental results of the
drilling of an Al 1050 sheet using a pulsed NdYAG laser
showed that the variation of the entrance diameter of the
drilled hole is highly influenced by the duration time and
the frequency of the pulse. In addition, it was found that
the entrance diameter of the drilled hole ranges from
0.58 to 0.63 mm under both analytical and experimental
conditions.
2) The results of the numerical analyses showed that
an Al 1050 sheet with a thickness of 0.2 mm is not
drilled when the duration time and frequency of the pulse
are 1 ms and 4 Hz, respectively. Moreover, it was noted
that the temperature in the workpiece changes rapidly
within 0.5 mm from the center of the heat flux in the
radial direction.
3) Comparison results of the analysis and the
experiment showed that the edge profile of the numerical
analysis is nearly similar to that of the experiment
exclusive of the dross attached region on the bottom
surface. In addition, it was observed that a drilled hole
with a gourd-shaped cross-section is created and the
taper angle of the drilled hole ranges from 6 to 23.
4) The experimental results showed that the desired
cross-section of a drilled hole with a minimum taper
angle is created when the duration time and frequency of
the pulse are 1 ms and 12 Hz, respectively. In addition, it
was found that the dross attachment, the edge breakage
and the incidence of melt erosion disappear from the
vicinity of the drilled hole in the drilling condition.
5) Based on these results, the optimal cutting
condition, at which the taper angle and the defects of the
drilled hole are minimized, was estimated in effort to
improve the quality of the drilled hole. In addition, it was
confirmed that a drilled hole with a taper angle of 6 and
an entrance diameter of 0.61 mm can be created under
the optimal drilling condition.

Acknowledgement
This research work was supported by a grant-in-aid
of Regional Innovation Center (RIC), New Technology
Development and Research Center of Laser Application
in Chosun University, Korea.

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(Edited by YANG Hua)