Heating and destruction of metallic particles exposed to intense laser radiation

Abstract

The heating of a laser-irradiated solid aluminum particle to boiling or to temperatures that exceed boiling is analyzed theoretically and numerically by solution of the heat-transport equation. Two different criteria of particle destruction are considered. The temperature distributions inside the particles depending on the intensity values and particle sizes are presented. It is shown that at the start of heating the contribution of heat exchange plays the dominant role, but as the boiling point is approached the contribution of vaporization plays the main role.