Comparison of material removal efficiency in laser ablation of polycrystalline diamond for different pulse durations

• This study compares the effects of different pulse numbers and durations on the ablation performance of PCD. • As pulse numbers rise, ablation depth per pulse declines. • In single-point ablation of PCD, 16 ns achieves double the depth of 12 ps and 250 fs lasers. • Ablation removal under different pulse durations was assessed for volume ablation process. • Single-point test results are informative but not fully representative of real-world processes. The study experimentally investigates the effect of three different pulse durations on the laser ablation of polycrystalline diamond (PCD), focusing on ablation depth and the morphology of the ablated craters. The results indicate that as the number of incident pulses (N.P) increases, the ablation depth per pulse reaches a constant value. A considerable difference in ablation depth, by nearly a factor of two, was observed for the 16 ns pulses compared to 12 ps and 250 fs pulses. In addition to the single-point experiment, three volume ablation tests with these pulse durations were performed. The results show that the material removal rates for the ns, fs, and ps lasers are the highest, respectively. Additionally, the ablation efficiency in volume ablation process was compared with single-point process, indicating considerable inconsistency in removal depth for ns and ps lasers.