Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Temperature Distribution and Hole Geometry during Laser Drilling Process

This paper reports on a numerical and experimental investigation of laser drilling of tungsten alloy for modeling the temperature distribution to predict the heat affected zone (HAZ) and the shape of the hole. The numerical method is based on the solution of the integral form of the thermal energy equation, expressed in terms of temperature via corresponding constitutive relation, and discretized by the finite volume method. The method has been applied to a number of test cases and the results are compared with the experimental data. It was observed that the finite volume method results were in good agreement with experimental data and that it can be used as useful tool for predicting heat affected zone and the shape of the hole during laser drilling process.