Self-focusing and beam attenuation in laser materials processing

    Authors

    P. Strombeck;A. Kar

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Phys. D-Appl. Phys.

    Keywords

    FREE-SURFACE; CONVECTION; FLOW; POOL; Physics, Applied

    Abstract

    During laser materials processing, the melt pool can form a convex or concave surface depending on the processing conditions and surface tension of the liquid metal. The curved surface can act as a lens to refract the laser rays. Temperature distributions below the substrate's surface are calculated for various values of the attenuation coefficient and radii of curvature of the free surface of the melt pool. For convex spherical curvature and a large penetration depth of the laser beam, the subsurface temperatures are found to be extremely high, exceeding the surface temperature severalfold. This is because of self-focusing, that is further focusing of the laser beam, that causes high subsurface laser irradiance.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Physics D-Applied Physics

    Volume

    31

    Issue/Number

    12

    Publication Date

    1-1-1998

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1438

    Last Page

    1448

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000074654800007

    ISSN

    0022-3727

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