Abstract:The object of this work is to investigate the influence of process parameters on drilling characteristics of an Al 1050 sheet with a thickness of 0.2 mm using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser through numerical analyses and experiments. By comparing the numerical analyses with the experiments, a proper numerical model was obtained. From the results of the numerical analyses and the experiments, the effects of process parameters on entrance diameters of drilled holes, shapes of the holes, taper angles of the holes and temperature distributions in the vicinity of the holes were examined quantitatively. In addition, the optimal drilling condition was estimated to improve the quality of the drilled holes.

Key words: Al 1050 sheet; pulsed Nd׃YAG laser; process parameters; drilled hole formation; temperature distribution; optimal drilling condition