Session C8
# 6189
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This
paper is based on publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this
paper is used for any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year
(freshman) engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at
his or her own risk.
FEMTOSECOND LASER MICRO MACHINING
Ryan Barrow, rwb35@pitt.edu, Bursic, 2:00
Dylan Miao, dtm32@pitt.edu, Mahboobin, 10:00
Revised Proposal - In recent years femtosecond lasers
have become an extremely improved and essential tool
for micro drilling processes that require very precise,
high accuracy machining. Femtosecond laser drilling
machines use extremely short optical pulses to
vaporize materials, forming very precise cuts [1]. The
advantage of such brief pulses over conventional laser
machining techniques is that they create a much
cleaner cut. Continuous beams diffuse a large amount
of heat throughout the material, creating a (relatively)
large heat-affected zone around the incision [2]. This
creates thermal damage in the material, such as
residual heat stress and possible fracturing [3].
Femtosecond lasers act so quickly that the heat
imparted by the beam almost instantly vaporizes the
targeted material. Therefore the laser is too brief to
allow the material around the cut to heat up, meaning
that the laser has no heat-affected zone around the cut,
which is a major drawback with continuous lasers.
This ability to create much more exact and cleaner
incisions eliminates the need for post-processing steps,
which greatly increase costs, reduce precision, and
lower production yields [2].
As the development of femtosecond lasers
increases exponentially, it is imperative that research
is continued to advance these machines. Femtosecond
lasers are being introduced into an increasing number
of industries. They have been used in everything from
dentistry to cardiac surgery and now even space
exploration [4]. Femtosecond lasers are able to cut and
drill into glass, metal, and even human tissue. As they
can cut so precisely, femtosecond lasers are used to
perform micro drilling in manufacturing aircraft
engine turbine blades, automotive fuel filters,
microfluidic devices, and many more applications
which require such extreme precision [5]. This paper
focuses on the use of femtosecond laser micro drilling
for the use of machining of industrial parts.
In order to continue investigation on this
topic, research will be done using papers recently
published on the advancement of femtosecond lasers
and the new uses that have been discovered for them.
These papers will be analyzed in order to understand
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
Submission date: 2016/01/29
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the recent advancements and widening uses of the
laser, as well as to compare the femtosecond laser to
past micro drilling processes. More research will be
done into the broad range of applications of
femtosecond lasers and the type of current
technologies they are replacing. Data comparing the
differences between these current technologies and
femtosecond laser machining will be researched and
used to present femtosecond lasers as an improvement
and effective replacement of older methods. This
paper will be organized by first introducing the laser
into greater detail while explaining the process of how
it functions. Then the femtosecond laser will be
compared to older, similar technologies. Finally,
specific examples of use of femtosecond laser will be
cited and explained as well as how it can be used to
advance and improve society.
REFERENCES
[1] Paschotta, Rudiger. (2013). “Femtosecond
Lasers” RP Photonics. (Online Article).
https://www.rpphotonics.com/femtosecond_lasers.html
[2] Mielke, Michael. (2013, September 13).
“PHOTONICS APPLIED: INDUSTRIAL LASERS:
The Hole Story: Femtosecond Manufacturing
Improves Automobile Fuel Efficiency” Laser Focus
World. (Online Article).
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volum
e-49/issue-11/features/photonics-applied-industriallasers-the-hole-story-femtosecond-manufacturingimproves-automobile-fuel-efficiency.html
[3] US Photonics Inc. A Brief History. Retrieved
January 13, 2016, from
http://usphotonics.com/about.html
[4] Freebody, Marie. (2015). “Femtosecond Lasers
Provide a Gentler Way to Micromachine” Euro
Photonics. (Online Article).
http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=57282
[5] Huang, Huan, Yang, Lih-Mei, Liu, Jian. (2013).
“Micro-Hole Drilling With Femtosecond Fiber
Laser.” (Print Article).
Ryan Barrow
Dylan Miao
http://www.polaronyx.com/publications/Micro_hole_
drilling_with_femtosecond_fiber_laser.pdf
femtosecond lasers. This article will be used as a
reference for specific statistics on the very intricate
mechanics of femtosecond lasers.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Huang, Huan, Yang, Lih-Mei, Liu, Jian. (2013).
“Micro-Hole Drilling With Femtosecond Fiber
Laser.” (Print Article).
This article written by experts in micro-hole
drilling was written for the international society for
optics and photonics to analyze the effectiveness of
femtosecond fiber lasers on hard and soft tissues. The
article proves that femtosecond lasers cause no
thermal damage or cracking. This article will be used
to prove the effectiveness of femtosecond lasers and
their improvement over past drilling methods. This
article also gives many examples of uses for microdrilling.
University of Pittsburgh ULS. (Online Video).
Retrieved January 11, 2016, from
http://www.library.pitt.edu/other/files/il/fresheng/ind
ex.html
TOPIC AREA: MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
Femtosecond laser micro drilling is a new
advancement in the field of mechanical engineering.
Much of mechanical engineering has to do with how
to cut and mold specific industrial materials.
Femtosecond lasers offer a new way to drill more
precisely than ever before. Furthermore, these lasers
have the capabilities to cut through metal, glass,
human tissue, plastic, and much more. Femtosecond
lasers are also used in additional mechanical
engineering projects such as the construction of
aircraft engine turbine blades and automotive fuel
filters. With the femtosecond laser being used in so
many industrial applications it clearly belongs in the
field of mechanical engineering.
Mielke,
Michael.
(2013,
September
13).
“PHOTONICS APPLIED: INDUSTRIAL LASERS:
The Hole Story: Femtosecond Manufacturing
Improves Automobile Fuel Efficiency” Laser Focus
World.
(Online
Article).
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volum
v-49/issue-11/features/photonics-applied-industriallasers-the-hole-story-femtosecond-manufacturingimproves-automobile-fuel-efficiency.html
The Hole Story: Femtosecond Manufacturing
Improves Automobile Fuel Efficiency is an article
from the professional website Laser Focus World,
which focuses exclusively on laser technologies like
femtosecond laser microdrilling. This article is about
how the accuracy of femtosecond laser machining
allows for improved efficiency in automobile engines
due to improved manufacturing of certain parts of the
engine. This article is useful for the very specific
example of the kind of improvements femtosecond
manufacturing has on a specific industry.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freebody, Marie. (2015). “Femtosecond Lasers
Provide a Gentler Way to Micromachine” Euro
Photonics.
(Online
Article).
http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=57282
This article was written for EuroPhotonics, a
magazine for professionals in the photonics industry.
The article is meant to inform others of the new uses
for femtosecond lasers and detail how research is
being done to further advance these lasers. This article
will help us explain the practical uses for femtosecond
lasers as well as to explain how diverse the fields are
that they can be used in.
N. Rizvi. “Femtosecond Laser Micromachining:
Current Status and Applications.” KOS Innovative
Laser
Technology.
(Online
Article).
http://www.lastek.co.kr/updata/f11623559861.pdf
This research based article, by Dr. Rizvi who has a
Ph.D. in femtosecond solid-state lasers, showed the
results one found when analyzing the effectiveness
and preciseness of femtosecond lasers. It goes into
detail on the specific uses of micromachining with
femtosecond lasers. This article will be used to convey
a more detailed look into the industrial uses of
micromachining and additional possible uses for the
lasers.
H. Chmelickova, L. Rihakova. (2015). “Laser
Micromachining of Glass, Silicon, and Ceramics.”
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering.
(Online
article).
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2015/584952
This article from the Materials Science and
Engineering journal Hindawi discusses uses of
femtosecond micro lasers in specific materials. Very
explicit research and information about femtosecond
laser technologies and interactions with materials is
given, including physical equations and many
references to specific studies and experiments with
Paschotta, Rudiger. (2013). “Femtosecond Lasers” RP
Photonics.
(Online
Article).
https://www.rpphotonics.com/femtosecond_lasers.html
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Ryan Barrow
Dylan Miao
This online article is published by an author of over
100 scientific journals and is published as a source for
technical advice. The article is meant to describe how
the femtosecond laser works and the different types of
such lasers. This article provides the understanding of
how the laser works which we will convey in our paper
so others can fully understand the function ability of
femtosecond lasers.
T. Maiman. (2011). “Innovations in Laser Technology
Offer Life-Changing Impact.” University of Colorado
College of Engineering & Applied Science. (Online
Article).
http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/features-cuehome/innovations-laser-technology-offer-lifechanging-impact
This article from the University Of Colorado
College Of Engineering discusses how lasers,
including femtosecond lasers, have the potential to
change the world’s quality of life because of their new
potential applications with sensing gasses, improving
medicine, and being used for security. This article will
be used to show the social impacts that femtosecond
lasers will have on the world.
US Photonics Inc. A Brief History. Retrieved January
13, 2016, from http://usphotonics.com/about.html
This source is information from the website of US
Photonics, a company that uses femtosecond lasers to
cut parts. The about page on the website has long lists
comparing facts about femtosecond lasers and current
lasers and the types of cuts they can make. There are
also lots of pictures showing comparisons of the final
products and pictures that illustrate the capabilities of
femtosecond lasers. The information from this source
will be used for a general overview of femtosecond
lasers and for explicit data on the differences between
current laser machining and the use of femtosecond
lasers.
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