A Study on a 355nm UV-pulsed Laser Processing of Polypropylene Filled with Copper Micro-particles

Abstract

This study investigated 355nm UV-pulsed laser processing of a 150 thick film of polypropylene filled with copper particles. Generally, processing polypropylene with a low beam energy UV laser is difficult because the material's absorption rate is less than 1% in UV wavelengths. However, polypropylene filled with copper particles is easily processed by UV laser, because copper has a UV absorption rate of more than 70%. The absorbed heat of the copper is transmitted to the polypropylene, accomplishing the machining process. Experimental results were observed while changing the laser processing speed rate. Also, the mechanism of the experimental results was investigated theoretically and experimentally.