Micromachining porous alumina ceramic for high quality trimming of turbine blade cores via double femtosecond laser scanning

Abstract Turbine blade cores are made of porous alumina ceramic and determine the molding accuracy of the cavity of turbine blades, which strongly affect thermal diffusion performance and service life of turbine engines. To get a high quality ceramic core, accurate trimming for a preliminarily processed core is needed and therefore, micromachining porous alumina ceramic, which differs from general alumina substrates, is crucial. This paper dealt with a processing technology for the special material via double femtosecond laser scanning. The materials ablation threshold was firstly determined through parameter fitting and then this material was machined at a combination of different laser processing parameters. Considering the produced debris blocks the lasers further propagation into the material, double femtosecond laser scanning was newly proposed and experimentally verified with the comparison of gas jet assist and underwater laser processing ways. The removal profiles of the machined material were characterized in terms of cutting width, cutting depth, deviation of linearity and surface morphology, which exhibited high dependence on the femtosecond laser processing parameters. The optimal laser operating window was identified and high quality laser cutting of the porous alumina ceramic was demonstrated. The developed processing technology has potential application in trimming for ceramic casting cores. In addition, it might also give a novel view for high quality laser micromachining another materials.