Understanding Laser Superheating in LAM of Silicon Nitride

The use of advanced ceramics like silicon nitride can be found in many high-tech engineering applications in various fields such as aerospace, defense and automotive. In order for these ceramics to become more prevalent in industry, development of better and cheaper methods of manufacturing ceramic parts is essential. Laser-assisted machining (LAM) of ceramics is one tool that can enable this growth while maintaining reasonable costs of manufacturing parts in small quantities. This book contains the research conducted on LAM of ceramics that helps develop a complete understanding of various laser and machining parameters in LAM of ceramics, and makes some important conclusions that help in continuing the research for a fully developed LAM of ceramics system. A fiber-coupled diode laser — which has the highest wall plug efficiencies and offers more flexibility, cheaper equipment costs, and smaller footprint than others — has been used.