This paper discusses the influence of laser etching process parameters on Ti-6Al-4V material. We made samples with an Nd-YAG laser engraving machine, where we tested the influence of process parameters. In the laser engraving process, we created a small grid of dots. The dots were then analyzed and measured using a digital optical microscope.
We found that the lowest current, where the laser still melted the surface of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V, is 35 A, but if we want to create a clearly visible crater, a current of at least 40 A or more is required. Increasing current increases the diameter of the resulting crater but does not have too obvious an effect on the crater depth. The highest frequency where the laser still melts the surface of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V is around 15 kHz, but if we want a round crater with a constant diameter, the frequency should be 10 kHz or less. Decreasing the frequency below 10 kHz increases the diameter of the resulting crater to some extent, but the increase in crater depth is more obvious. At a frequency of 15 kHz, the pulse length is so short that even increasing the current strength has virtually no effect on the diameter or depth of the crater. Reducing the frequency below 500 Hz does not make sense, as this greatly increases the production time, and the craters no longer increase in size from this point onwards. The minimum number of pulses required for our laser to melt the material and make a crater is 5 pulses. Increasing the number of pulses has no effect on the diameter of the crater but has a large effect on increasing the depth of the crater.
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