Surface microstructure evolution of Cf/SiC ceramic matrix composite microgrooves processed by ultrafast laser

Modern aviation components have higher requirements for high temperature resistance, high strength and lightweight materials, and ceramic matrix composites have superior overall performance. However, its high brittleness and anisotropy lead to a challenge for manufacturing. In order to understand the formation conditions and the evolution of surface microstructures of the Cf/SiC microgrooves processed by ultrafast laser comprehensively, we designed a single-factor experiment and performed sensitivity analysis. The experiment results showed that the pulse energy had great effects on the depth of the microgroove, and the intense ablation caused more active oxidation of SiC to occur, generating more SiO(g). However, too much pulse energy may cause the material removal mechanism to be more due to the photothermal effect rather than the plasma effect. Low repetition frequency caused a large number of laminated connections in the microgroove and the oxide gradually changed from lumpy to flocculent as the repetition frequency increased. The more scanning times, the more ablation products sputtered onto the sample surface, including unablated carbon fibers. Shallow depth and ablation residues remained in the microgroove occurred under few scanning times. Although too fast scanning speed leaded to a rapid decrease in the microgroove depth, too slow scanning speed also generated more unablated carbon fibers sputtering out of the microgrooves. The microgroove depth had the highest sensitivity to the repetition frequency, followed by the pulse energy and scanning speed. The pulse energy and scanning speed had a greater effect on the oxide layer height, the repetition frequency affected the oxide layer width, and the scanning speed affected the microgroove width significantly. According to the processing requirements and the hot spot map, the processing parameters that can be adjusted effectively will be able to be obtained.