Gas shrinking laminar flow for robust high-power waterjet laser processing technology.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Optical Engineering
• Manufacturing Technology

Background:

• Traditional waterjet-assisted laser processing suffers from low coupling power and poor reliability, limiting processing efficiency and depth.
• Existing methods struggle with stability and precision, hindering applications requiring deep material modification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a novel water-gas shrinkage-guided high-power laser processing (WSLP) technology.
• To overcome the limitations of current laser processing techniques by enhancing power coupling and process stability.

Main Methods:

• Optimizing laminar flow and light guiding characteristics of a water-gas coupled device through simulations.
• Conducting light guiding simulations to determine efficiency and tolerance to laser focus offset.
• Performing experimental verification of laser conduction and processing feasibility, investigating water-gas laminar flow conditions.

Main Results:

• Laminar flow simulations show adjustable water-gas contraction ratio and flow length via pressure and structural parameters.
• Light guiding simulations indicate over 95% efficiency at the shrinkage interface with significant tolerance to laser focus offset (axial, radial, angular).
• Experimental results demonstrate a 93% laser coupling efficiency and significantly enhanced anti-disturbance capabilities (3.8x axial, 2.3x radial, 1.5x angular) compared to traditional methods.

Conclusions:

• The proposed WSLP technology offers superior anti-disturbance capabilities and high laser coupling efficiency.
• WSLP provides a viable solution for improving precision and efficiency in high-power laser processing applications.
• This technology holds potential for advancing large-depth laser precision machining.