Femtosecond Laser Manufacturing Experiments

The femtosecond laser utilizes an unusually short laser pulse that results in little, if any, metallurgical damage in stainless steel and other materials. Studies of the process demonstrated high quality wall contours (metallurgically clean) when the laser was used to cut grooves in stainless steel discs. This study did prove the feasibility of the process as an alternate potential for the existing process for making burst discs. Significant additional work is required to increase groove reproducibility and produce three-dimensional cuts, requiring development of appropriate tooling and controllers