Effect of Laser Parameters on PMMA during Laser Micromachining: A FEMLAB Simulation

Abstract

Laser micromachining has been widely applied in the fabrication, production and manufacturing of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). It uses photo thermal melting or ablation to abricate a microstructure. The use of heat as a means of material removal has various negative effects on different materials. Distortion of the material is one of the negative effects, especially polymers. Polymers are often used in medical devices, microelectronic and sensor industries where high precision and high quality is required. During laser cutting of polymers, bulges are formed mainly due to resolidification of molten material in the working zone and temperature difference between the heat affected zone and the heat unaffected zone. A mathematical model has been developed using finite element analysis to model polymer material behavior during laser cutting. The model was run on both FEMLAB and MATLAB softwares. The effects of cutting parameters on bulge formation was then be analyzed and the results compared to theoretical structures.