Micromachining of Polyurea Aerogel Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Abstract

We successfully sliced cylindrical polyurea aerogel samples of 10-15 mm in diameter into 1-3 mm disks using femtosecond laser. The experiments were performed using a Ti:sapphire laser with 800 nm wavelength in ambient air with a pulse duration of ∼ 40 fs. We found that the laser fluence to breakdown this material is 1.3 J/cm2. The ablation rate at different energy levels was evaluated. The factors influencing the ablation surface quality were investigated. The proper fluence to slice the porous polyurea is 6.4- 8.9 J/cm2 with the beam linearly scanning the sample at a speed of 0.1 mm/s, or 5.1-7.6 J/cm2 with the beam circularly scanning the sample at a speed of 3.5-4°/s, and high quality machining surface was obtained under these conditions. The material removal mechanisms are proposed. Structural details of the machined area were characterized using a number of techniques such as optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. This work provides insights for micromachining nanostructured porous polymers using femtosecond lasers. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Department(s)

Chemistry

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0022-3093

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2011 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2011

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