Laser pulse heating: Cavity formation into steel, nickel and tantalum surfaces

The cavity formation during laser pulse heating of steel, nickel, and tantalum is examined and evaporation rate from the cavity surface is predicted. The mushy zones generated across the vapor–liquid and liquid–solid phases are modeled using the energy method. Temperature-dependent thermal properties are accommodated in the analysis and the laser pulse shape resembling the actual laser pulse is employed in the simulations. A numerical scheme using the control volume method is used to predict the cavity size, recession velocity of the vapor front, and temperature field in the laser irradiated region. It is found that cavity depth for steel is the largest, then follows nickel and tantalum. The recession velocity of the vapor front is high for steel due to the low evaporation temperature and latent heat of evaporation of steel.