Effect of Repetition Rate on Femtosecond Laser-Induced Homogenous Microstructures

We report on the effect of repetition rate on the formation and surface texture of the laser induced homogenous microstructures. Different microstructures were micromachined on copper (Cu) and titanium (Ti) using femtosecond pulses at 1 and 10 kHz. We studied the effect of the repetition rate on structure formation by comparing the threshold accumulated pulse ( F Σ p u l s e ) values and the effect on the surface texture through lacunarity analysis. Machining both metals at low F Σ p u l s e resulted in microstructures with higher lacunarity at 10 kHz compared to 1 kHz. On increasing F Σ p u l s e , the microstructures showed higher lacunarity at 1 kHz. The effect of the repetition rate on the threshold F Σ p u l s e values were, however, considerably different on the two metals. With an increase in repetition rate, we observed a decrease in the threshold F Σ p u l s e on Cu, while on Ti we observed an increase. These differences were successfully allied to the respective material characteristics and the resulting melt dynamics. While machining Ti at 10 kHz, the melt layer induced by one laser pulse persists until the next pulse arrives, acting as a dielectric for the subsequent pulse, thereby increasing F Σ p u l s e . However, on Cu, the melt layer quickly resolidifies and no such dielectric like phase is observed. Our study contributes to the current knowledge on the effect of the repetition rate as an irradiation parameter.