Deep Drilling of Structural Timber with High Power Ultrashort Pulsed Laser Radiation

Deep drilling of structural timber using ultra short pulse laser ablation is investigated directed towards using this for a novel approach for reinforcement and connection of structural timber. To gain a basic understanding of the interaction processes, the optical properties as well as the different ablation behavior of early and late wood are investigated and discussed. Based on these findings a hypothesis is formulated that directly links the local cell density with the ablation behavior of wood. Furthermore, deep drilling processes are successfully applied to structural timber despite inhomogeneities of the material. We show that the damaging effects of the laser drilling on the mechanical properties of the realized screw connections is negligible.