In this research, effects of ambient temperature (-100 °C-200 °C) on nanosecond laser micro-drilling of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was investigated by simulation and experiment. A thermo-mechanical coupled model was established, and it was indicated that the top and bottom diameter of the micro-hole decreased with the decrease of the ambient temperature, and the micro-hole taper increased with the decrease of the ambient temperature. The simulation results showed a good agreement with the experiment results in micro-hole geometry; the maximum prediction errors of the top micro-hole diameter, the bottom micro-hole diameter and micro-hole taper were 2.785%, 6.306% and 9.688%, respectively. The diameter of the heat-affected zone decreased with the decrease of the ambient temperature. The circumferential wrinkles were controlled by radial compressive stress. As the ambient temperature increased from 25 °C to 200 °C, the radial compressive stress gradually decreased, which led to the circumferential wrinkles gradually evolving in the radial direction. This work provides a new idea and method based on ambient temperature control for nanosecond laser processing of PDMS, which provides exciting possibilities for a wider range of engineering applications of PDMS.
Keywords: ambient temperature; laser micro-drilling; micro-hole taper; polydimethylsiloxane; thermal stress; wrinkling.