Laser Augmented Diamond Drilling: A New Technique to Drill Hard and Brittle Materials

AbstractLaser Augmented Diamond Drilling (LADD) is a new technique to drill hard and brittle materials. It utilizes a laser that is focused through an optically transparent diamond bit to drill the workpiece. The laser decreases the hardness and brittleness of the material by heating and thermally softening, and also increases the tool life. Single crystal silicon (100) has been used as the working material in this research. It has been demonstrated that using the LADD process can improve the quality of entrance edge of the drilled holes as well as their inner surface finish. Resulting surfaces and chips (machining debris) show evidences of ductile mode cut