Comparison of the simulation and experimental of hole characteristics during nanosecond-pulsed laser drilling of thin titanium sheets

This paper reports theoretical and experimental results of drilling titanium sheets with a thickness of 0.2 mm using a nanosecond-pulsed laser. To describe morphological changes and the temperature distribution during nanosecond laser drilling, a physical model was established using ANSYS parametric design language (APDL) with life and death technology of ANSYS software. The influences of laser parameters such as laser energy and pulse number on the dimensions (depth and diameter) of the drilled holes were investigated with optical microscope. The crater depth and diameter could be increased by increasing the number of laser pulses and laser energy with some defects. Compared with experimental results, numerical results show slight difference, which is in the acceptable range.