Laser drilling of non-circular apertures
US5609779A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 15, 1996 |
| Grant date | Mar 11, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 15, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB23K2101/001
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A method for forming an aperture in a component wall made of metal, the aperture having a diffuser which opens up and outward from a bottom of the diffuser to a first surface of the wall, the method includes the following steps: A) laser machining the wall with a laser which produces a laser beam having a pulse rate and power sufficient to vaporize the metal; B) firing and traversing the laser beam, preferably at an acute angle, across the surface to a predetermined first edge of the diffuser in a single pass starting at a centerline of the diffuser; and C) traversing the laser beam at an increasing rate of speed during the pass so that each beam pulse vaporizes the metal at a laser spot such that successive laser spots substantially overlap each other in decreasing amounts and the pulses nibble out the metal to form a continuous trench below the surface.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.