Studies on fabrication of protruded multi-shaped micro-feature array on AA 6063 by laser micromachining

Miniaturization of parts of devices is the driving force for fabrication of micro-features. In this study fabrication of protruded multi-shaped micro-feature array on AA 6063 is attempted by laser micromachining. For fabricating the protruded microfeatures, the process parameters such as laser power, scanning speed and frequency of the laser beam have been optimized by considering track depth, width, and surface roughness as the output parameters. Three different cross sections in the tracks such as pileup section, W-section, and Gaussian groove section are observed. It is found that shape of the tracks vary with the scanning speed for the same power and frequency of the laser beam. The tracks of pileup section, W-section, and Gaussian groove section were produced for a laser scanning speed of 100 mm/s, 200mm/s, and 300 mm/s, respectively. Further, a laser-thermal ablative model is developed for predicting the depth of the single track and simulated using COMSOL® Multiphysics. The predicted track depths obtained from the simulations have good agreement with experimental results. In order to produce the protruded microfeatures of different shapes, multiple track analysis is done by fabricating the single tracks adjacent to one another by overlapping them, and the overlapping distance is optimized. The protruded microfeatures are then fabricated by removing the surrounding material for different scanning strategies and it is found that the contour strategy produced the features with minimal form error. Finally, it is demonstrated that an array of protruded micro-features of polygon (square, hexagon), and circular cross sections can be fabricated using the optimized process parameters for various applications.