Ablation of nylon-6,6 with UV and IR lasers

In this paper we study the basic phenomenology of nylon-6,6 ablation with XeCl, CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers and quantify on its parameters. The material degradation temperature calculated for pulsed laser heating predicts melting of the polymer surface observed by scanning electron microscopy. The results obtained assist in the elucidation of the polymer degradation mechanism at 308 nm which is important for the manufacturing of plastic optical components.