This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The objectives of this Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) research project are to improve understanding of pulsed laser micro polishing and to develop strategies for delivering pulsed laser energy to three-dimensional micro-sized parts to achieve a desired surface roughness. The approach will be to conduct experiments to better understand the effects of process and motion parameters (laser pulse duration, laser fluence, shielding gas, laser angle of incidence, beam switching and pulse overlap), to use thermal and material fluid-flow models to better understand how shallow (100 nanometer) and short duration (600 - 1200 nanoseconds) melt pools reduce surface roughness, and to develop a research prototype of an automated pulsed laser polishing system for micro-sized parts and devices with sculptured surfaces.
Pulsed laser micro polishing of engineering materials that are important in applications such as medical device manufacturing (titanium, stainless steel, for example) will have benefits such as new capabilities for miniaturized devices, new design possibilities, potential reductions in manufacturing costs, and reductions in friction between surfaces. Engineers no longer will have to design around the relatively large surface roughness that results from micro-scale manufacturing processes. A new industry (micro-scale parts polishing) could emerge from the commercialization of this technology. Industrial collaboration and summer internships will enhance technology transfer, provide students with diverse engineering experiences, and make strong connections between basic science and technology.
