Study on the Process Characteristics of Picosecond Laser Trepan Cutting Hole Manufacturing for Heat-Resistant Steel

Picosecond laser drilling offers high precision and quality, and compared to femtosecond lasers, it also balances processing efficiency, making it widely used across various fields. However, existing drilling processes still face issues such as roundness and taper. Therefore, further research into the processing characteristics of picosecond laser technology is needed to improve processing quality. This paper uses ANSYS software to conduct numerical simulations of picosecond laser ring-cutting drilling, analyzing the temperature field of microholes under ring-cutting scanning paths as parameters change. Experimental studies were conducted using AISI 310S heat-resistant stainless steel as the base material. This material exhibits excellent high-temperature oxidation resistance and strength retention, making it suitable for laser thermal processing. Using a single-factor method, the study investigated the influence of equidistant concentric circular paths and inner-dense-outer-sparse concentric circular paths on microhole morphology characteristics. The results show that the laser energy distribution is different under different paths. The entrance aperture of the equidistant concentric circle path is larger than that of the inner dense and outer sparse concentric circle path, while the exit aperture is smaller than the latter. Moreover, the roundness is also better than that of the inner dense and outer sparse concentric circle path. The taper of the inner dense and outer sparse concentric circle path is better than that of the equidistant concentric circle path. This study can provide a reference for the optimization of different processing paths in the future.