Simulation of the laser-material interaction of ultrashort pulse laser processing of silicon nitride workpieces and the key factors in the ablation process

Abstract Understanding the laser ablation mechanism is highly essential to find the effect of different laser parameters on the quality of the laser ablation. A mathematical model was developed in the current investigation to calculate the material removal rate and ablation depth. Laser cuts were created on the workpiece with different laser scan speeds from 1 to 10 mm s −1 by an ultrashort pulse laser with a wavelength of about 1000 nm. The calculated depths of laser cuts were validated via practical experiments. The variation of the laser power intensity on the workpiece’s surface during laser radiation was also calculated. The mathematical model has determined the laser-material interaction mechanism for different laser intensities. The practical sublimation temperature and ablated material temperature during laser processing are other data that the model calculates. The results show that in laser power intensities ( I L ) higher than 1.5 × 10 9 W cm −2 , the laser-material interaction is multiphoton ionisation with no effects of thermal reaction, while in lower values of I L , there are effects of thermal damages and HAZ adjacent to the laser cut. The angle of incidence is an essential factor in altering incident I L on the surface of the workpiece during laser processing, which changes with increasing depth of the laser cut.