Fundamental Research on Plasma Flow and Plasma-Solid Interactions for Laser-Induced Plasma Deburring.

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Removing material to fabricate parts or features can often result in unwanted small burrs (remaining small pieces of material beyond the desired features on workpieces) that typically need to be removed by additional processes. Micro scale deburring can be especially time consuming and expensive due to common challenges such as small features sizes, large burr-to-feature size ratios, and tight geometric feature tolerances. Through this award, a laser-induced plasma deburring process will be studied to determine if plasma flow (ionized gas flow) and plasma-solid interactions can effectively remove micro burrs without imparting significant damage to the workpiece. If this is verified, then laser-induced plasma deburring could find application in micro-deburring a wide range of feature shapes and materials. This new ability could benefit many advanced manufacturing industries relying on burr free, micro-scale structures and features for applications such as medical stents, fuel injector holes, etc. Although this research is focused on gaining a fundamental understanding of plasma flow interactions with micro scale structures (burrs) and the surfaces to which they adhere, the basic knowledge may benefit many other areas or technologies in manufacturing, aerospace and aeronautical fields, e.g., laser plasma-based surface particle cleaning, supersonic flow drag reduction, and micro/nanosatellite propulsion. In addition to the research component, planned engagement of graduate and undergraduate students in the research activities will strengthen the future workforce in advanced manufacturing industries. The next generation of manufacturing engineers will be cultivated through both an enriched undergraduate course on manufacturing, and local community outreach activities. The overall goal of this project is to gain a good fundamental understanding of laser-induced plasma flow, plasma-solid interactions and effects around a burr on a workpiece in the laser-induced plasma deburring process. The specific research objectives are to: (1) fundamentally understand laser-induced plasma flow (including the associated shock wave) and plasma-solid interactions around a burr on a workpiece; (2) understand the plasma effects on burrs and on workpiece surface integrity, microstructures and mechanical properties; and (3) determine if the plasma flow and plasma-solid interactions can generate sufficiently strong impacts to effectively remove micro burrs, without imparting significant workpiece damage. The specific research tasks include: (1) perform time-resolved measurements and observations of the laser-induced plasma deburring process; (2) develop a model to gain insights into the process of the plasma flow and plasma-solid interactions around a burr; and, (3) characterize burrs and workpieces before and after laser-induced plasma deburring to help understand the burr removal mechanism and determine the impact of the process on the remaining surface.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.