Ablation Investigation of Cemented Carbides Using Short-Pulse Laser Beams

Abstract

As an excellent engineering tool material, cemented carbides are capable to shape and cut metallic materials with high surface finish quality and precision. However, in regard to conventional abrasive methods cemented carbides are difficult-to-machine materials due to their extreme hardness combined with relatively low toughness. In contrast, laser beam machining is an advanced non-contacting cutting method which is therefore suitable for shaping hard materials. In particular, the application of short-pulse laser beams enables the cutting of hard materials meeting high precision requirements. Moreover, it can effectively reduce defects induced by mechanical contacts and thermal reactions. In this paper, a general study of the ablation mechanism of cemented carbides using short-pulse laser is conducted. Special attention is paid to the correlation between the material ablation and machining parameters within the nanosecond regime: pulse number and pulse energy. In doing so, two cemented carbide grades with similar composition but different grain size have been chosen as investigated materials. An experimental set-up equipped with a nanosecond laser and an auto-stage is implemented to produce dimples on the cemented carbide surfaces with variable pulse number and pulse energy. The experimental design and characterization of geometrical features of produced dimples are presented and discussed. The work is complemented with a thorough surface integrity assessment of the shaped materials. It is found that ablation increases proportionally with the pulse number and applied energy. Regarding microstructural effects, ablation is discerned to be more pronounced in the coarse-grained grade as compared to the medium-sized one.