Laser ablation of metals: a 3D process simulation for industrial applications

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