Pulsed laser heating - Fourier and electron kinetic theory approaches

Laser surface pulse heating of engineering metals is in demand in the metal industry and investigation into laser pulse heating becomes fruitful in th is regard. Application of Fourier theory to heat conduction due to high pow er laser irradiation may give closed form solution to the problem. On the o ther hand, the heat flux through a given plane depends on the electron ener gy distribution through the material and at the scale of distance required to examine the problem, the material can no longer be considered as being h omogeneous continuum, therefore, errors may occur when considering the Four ier theory in laser heating process. The problem requires to be examined in the quantum field. The present study examines the pulse laser heating proc ess when considering both Fourier conduction and electron-kinetic theory ap proaches. Analytical solution to Fourier conduction equation is obtained fo r intensity exponential pulses while numerical scheme is introduced to solv e the heat transfer equation resulted from kinetic theory approach. It is f ound that both Fourier and electron kinetic theory approaches result in sim ilar temperature profiles for the pulses having the same energy content. In the case of electron kinetic theory approach the rise time for surface tem perature to reach the melting point is shorter than that obtained from the analytical solution.