Micromould based laser shock embossing of thin metal sheets for MEMS applications

Laser shock forming is a new material processing technology. Micro-channel with dimension of 260 mu m x 59 mu m was successfully fabricated on metallic foil surface using laser-generated shock wave. The work piece has a high spatial resolution at the micron-level. A series of experiments was conducted to validate the finite element model. An analysis procedure including dynamic analysis performed by ANSYS/LS-DYNA and static analysis performed by ANSYS is presented in detail to attain the simulation of laser shock embossing to predict the surface deformation. Micromould based laser shock embossing holds promise for achieving precise, well-controlled, low-cost, high efficiency of three-dimensional metallic microstructures. In addition, this technique can fabricate complex 3D microstructures directly by single pulse. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.