Experimental study on the effect of varying focal offset distance on laser micropolished surfaces

Abstract

Laser micropolishing (LμP) is an innovative part-finishing process that reduces machining roughness by melting a thin layer of material on the micromilled surface using a focused laser beam. The quality of the final polished surface is dependent upon the part material, initial surface topography and roughness, and the energy density of the beam. The focal offset distance (FOD) is one critical parameter that controls the amount of energy delivered to the workpiece. The impact of varying the FOD on final laser-polished surface quality is investigated by performing a series of experiments on carefully prepared AISI H13 test samples with known initial surface roughness and waviness due to the milled track periodicity. Three well-defined polishing regimes were observed when adjusting the FOD for a Q-switched Nd/YAG LμP system between 1.3 and 2.9 mm. Given the same initial micromilled surface geometry, each LμP regime (i.e., short FOD, <1.8 mm; long FOD, >2.2 mm; and intermediate FOD) reduced the surface roughness and periodic waviness in a distinct manner. For a micromilled sample with a 33-μm periodicity, the LμP with FOD of >2.2 mm was determined to be the most effective regime by improving surface quality by 39.7 %. The affects of repetitive exposure to the beam and increasing the applied laser power on improving surface quality are also investigated for the 3 LμP regimes.