Thermal and Mechanical Behavior in Laser Trepan Drilling of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia

Cracking control is very important for laser drilling of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). In this paper, a thermomechanical model is presented to investigate what will be happened in the trepan drilling of YSZ by a picosecond pulsed laser. The thermal model is developed for describing the interaction between laser and YSZ material to obtain the transient temperature. The mechanical model is developed to calculate the stress distribution caused by the phase transformation based on the temperature results. The goal of the present study is to explore the intrinsic mechanism of cracking around the drilled hole from the aspect of the phase transformation in laser drilling of YSZ.