Characterization and comparison of iron and aluminium laser ablation with time-integrated emission spectroscopy of induced plasma

Surface vaporization accompanied by partial melting of the underlying layers, can be considered the most probable phenomenon in metal ablation by intense nanosecond lasers. In this case, the atoms leave the workpiece due to the resulting vapour expansion flow into the environment, often associated with plasma plume formation over the metal surface. In this study, the behaviour of the plasma plume thermodynamic parameters, electron temperature and total density of dominant species, obtained from the emission spectra of the plasma induced in Q-switched Nd : YAG laser ablation of iron and aluminium, has been taken into consideration. This behaviour has been analysed to characterize and compare the effects of laser operating parameters, pulse energy and frequency, on the ablation scale and quality in these metals. For quantitative and qualitative characterization of ablated sections, optical microscopic observations have also been performed.