Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Irradiating Schemes in Laser Tube Bending Process

The laser tube bending process (LTBP) process is a thermal non-contact process for bending tubes with less springback and less thinning of the tube. In this paper, the laser tube bending process will be studied experimentally. The length of irradiation and irradiation scheme are two main affecting process parameters in the LTBP process. For this purpose, different samples according to two main irradiation schemes (Circular irradiating scheme (CIS) and axial irradiating scheme (AIS)) and different lengths of laser beam irradiation (from 4.7 to 28.2 mm) are fabricated. The main bending angle of laser-bent tube, lateral bending angle, ovality, and thickness variations is measured experimentally, and the effects of the irradiating scheme and the length of irradiation are investigated. An 18 mm diameter, 1 mm thick mild steel tube was bent with 1100 Watts laser beam. The results show that for both irradiating schemes, by increasing the irradiating length of the main and lateral bending angle, the ovality and thickness variation ratio of the bent tube are increased. In addition, for a similar irradiating length, the main bending angle with AIS is considerably higher than CIS. The lateral bending angle by AIS is much less than the lateral bending angle with CIS. The results demonstrate that the ovality percentage and the thickness variation ratio for the laser-bent tube obtained by CIS are much more than the values associated with by AIS laser-bent tube.

Experimental Analysis of Laser Micromachining of Microchannels in Common Microfluidic Substrates

Laser micromachining technique offers a promising alternative method for rapid production of microfluidic devices. However, the effect of process parameters on the channel geometry and quality of channels on common microfluidic substrates has not been fully understood yet. In this research, we studied the effect of laser system parameters on the microchannel characteristics of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and microscope glass substrate—three most widely used materials for microchannels. We also conducted a cell adhesion experiment using normal human dermal fibroblasts on laser-machined microchannels on these substrates. A commercial CO2 laser system consisting of a 45W laser tube, circulating water loop within the laser tube and air cooling of the substrate was used for machining microchannels in PDMS, PMMA and glass. Four laser system parameters—speed, power, focal distance, and number of passes were varied to fabricate straight microchannels. The channel characteristics such as depth, width, and shape were measured using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a 3D profilometer. The results show that higher speed produces lower depth while higher laser power produces deeper channels regardless of the substrate materials. Unfocused laser machining produces wider but shallower channels. For the same speed and power, PDMS channels were the widest while PMMA channels were the deepest. Results also showed that the profiles of microchannels can be controlled by increasing the number of passes. With an increased number of passes, both glass and PDMS produced uniform, wider, and more circular channels; in contrast, PMMA channels were sharper at the bottom and skewed. In rapid cell adhesion experiments, PDMS and glass microchannels performed better than PMMA microchannels. This study can serve as a quick reference in material-specific laser-based microchannel fabrications.