Experimental and analytical investigation of cemented tungsten carbide ultra-short pulse laser ablation

Ultra-short pulse laser processing of hard materials, such as cemented tungsten carbide, requires an accurate and agile experimental and analytical investigation to obtain adequate information and setting parameters to maximize ablation rate. Therefore, this study presents a systematic approach which, first, experimentally searches for the variables with the most significant influence on the objective using a design of experiments method; and second, analyzes by means of existing ablation theory the interaction of the material and laser taking into account the Beer-Lambert law and incubation effect. Therefore, this places a basis for future analytical-experimental validation of the examined material. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.