Laser Ablation of Metals: A 3D Process Simulation for Industrial Applications

A model for laser milling simulation is presented in this paper. A numerical model able to predict the physical phenomena involved in laser ablation of metals was developed where the heat distribution in the work piece, the prediction of the velocity of the vapor/liquid front, and the physical state of the plasma plume were taken into account. The model is fully 3D and the simulations makes it possible to predict the ablated workpiece volume and the shape of the resulting craters for a single laser pulse or multiple pulses, or for any path of the laser spot. The numerical model was implemented in C++ and an overview of the code capacities is presented.