Effects of Ambient Temperature on Nanosecond Laser Micro-Drilling of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)

• Published in: Micromachines (Basel) 2022-12, Vol.14 (1), p.90
• Main Authors: Lu, Ya, Lin, Chaoran, Guo, Minghui, Rong, Youmin, Huang, Yu, Wu, Congyi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ambient temperature; Compressive properties; Decomposition; Diameters; Drilling; Experiments; Heat affected zone; Hydrophobic surfaces; laser micro-drilling; Laser processing; Lasers; micro-hole taper; Microholes; Microstructure; Morphology; Polydimethylsiloxane; Scanners; Scanning electron microscopy; Silicon wafers; Tapering; Temperature; Temperature control; thermal stress; wrinkling
• ISSN: 2072-666X; 2072-666X
• DOI: 10.3390/mi14010090

In this research, effects of ambient temperature (-100 °C-200 °C) on nanosecond laser micro-drilling of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was investigated by simulation and experiment. A thermo-mechanical coupled model was established, and it was indicated that the top and bottom diameter of the micro-hole decreased with the decrease of the ambient temperature, and the micro-hole taper increased with the decrease of the ambient temperature. The simulation results showed a good agreement with the experiment results in micro-hole geometry; the maximum prediction errors of the top micro-hole diameter, the bottom micro-hole diameter and micro-hole taper were 2.785%, 6.306% and 9.688%, respectively. The diameter of the heat-affected zone decreased with the decrease of the ambient temperature. The circumferential wrinkles were controlled by radial compressive stress. As the ambient temperature increased from 25 °C to 200 °C, the radial compressive stress gradually decreased, which led to the circumferential wrinkles gradually evolving in the radial direction. This work provides a new idea and method based on ambient temperature control for nanosecond laser processing of PDMS, which provides exciting possibilities for a wider range of engineering applications of PDMS.