Study on Physicochemical Properties and Removal Mechanism of SiC Ceramics Processed by Femtosecond Laser

Ultrafast laser processing of hard and brittle materials can effectively suppress processing damage and obtain a balance of processing quality and efficiency. In this paper, a femtosecond laser was used to process silicon carbide ceramics at different energy densities and pulse numbers to investigate the effects of laser parameters on surface morphological features, chemical components and microporous quality, and to analyze the evolution of surface microstructure and material removal processes. The results show that the boiling and melting zones are formed on the surface of silicon carbide ceramics by single-pulse processing, and the threshold energies for the formation of characteristic zones are calculated to be 3.779 J/cm² and 0.86 J/cm², respectively; the removal process of silicon carbide ceramics is the result of photothermal and photochemical effects successively, and the mechanism of action in the central region with higher temperature is the evaporation of the material, while the low temperature region is the thermal decomposition of the material The microporous diameter and ablation depth increase with the increase of energy density and number of pulses. This study further improves the mechanism of femtosecond laser processing of silicon carbide ceramics from the perspective of material physiochemical property changes, and provides a theoretical reference for efficient and precise processing applications of silicon carbide ceramic parts.