Generating Profiled Diamond Grinding Wheels by 2000 W Fiber Laser: On The Understanding of Laser Ablation Law with High Power and Establishment of a Predictive Model

• Published in: International journal of advanced manufacturing technology 2022-05, Vol.120 (5-6), p.3045-3063
• Main Authors: Rushworth, Adam George Antrum, Xie, Ke Ge, Fang, Ben Li, Shen, Yi Xiu, Huang, Zhi Pei, Zhang, Xiang Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ablation; Ablative materials; Abrasive wheels; Abrasives; CAE) and Design; Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD; Diamonds; Empirical analysis; Engineering; Environmental impact; Feed rate; Fiber lasers; Grinding wheels; Hard materials; Industrial and Production Engineering; Laser ablation; Laser beams; Lasers; Mathematical models; Mechanical Engineering; Media Management; Original Article; Parameters; Prediction models; Variability; Wheel dressing
• ISSN: 0268-3768; 1433-3015
• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-022-08934-6

Laser ablation is a common process for most hard materials with a variety of advantages, such as high efficiency, low vibration, and low environmental impact. As such, an increasing number of researchers take advantage of this technique in carrying out the dressing process on grinding wheels containing super-hard abrasives. However, as there is a complex interaction between the laser beam and matrix, it is hard to remove materials from the grinding wheel in a controllable way. To fill this gap, the laser ablation depth and width change with various laser powers, feed rates, and duty cycles are investigated and analyzed in this study. An analytical model regarding the laser ablation process on non-metallic, inhomogeneous materials is performed. The limitations and applicability of the model are also analyzed. Based on the evaluation results and experimental data, corresponding predictive empirical models are established and experimentally validated. This study shows that both the ablation depth and width are increased with duty cycle and laser power but decreased with increased feed rate. Interestingly, the ablation results are not largely affected by feed rate when compared to duty cycle and laser power. The ablation depth has a narrow variability under a given laser power and has a relatively wide variability for a given feed rate. The ablation depth and width are affected more by changes in the duty cycle under higher laser power. At higher laser powers, the ablation depth has a wider range of variation with the duty cycle, while the ablation width varies little. Overall, the ablation law is predicted by the empirical model, which can assist in ablation parameter selection. Finally, an experimental application is used to validate the models, and RMSE 0.2867, Bias 0.0296, and Std.Res. 0.2588 are achieved, indicating the applicability of the prediction model. The presented work is anticipated to be not only meaningful in providing the ablation law for laser parameter selection for industrial production, but also helpful in providing an academic resource for the research field of non-metallic multi-material laser ablation.