Methods of using a laser to spall and drill holes in rocks

Reed, Claude B.; Xu, Zhiyue; Parker, Richard A.; Graves, Ramona M.; Stone, Thomas W.

Title: Methods of using a laser to spall and drill holes in rocks

Patent · Tue Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2008

OSTI ID:1531562

Reed, Claude B.; Xu, Zhiyue; Parker, Richard A.; Graves, Ramona M.; Stone, Thomas W.

Apparatus and methods of using lasers are provided for spalling and drilling holes into rocks. A rock removal process is provided that utilizes a combination of laser-induced thermal stress and laser induced superheated steam explosions just below the surface of the laser/rock interaction to spall the rock into small fragments that can then be easily removed by a purging flow. Single laser beams of given irradiance spall rock and create holes having diameter and depth approximately equal to the beam spot size. A group of the single laser beams are steered in a controllable manner by an electro-optic laser beam switch to locations on the surface of the rock, creating multiple overlapping spalled holes thereby removing a layer of rock of a desired diameter. Drilling of a deep hole is achieved by spalling consecutive layers with an intermittent feed motion of the laser head perpendicular to the rock surface.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: W-31-109-ENG-38

Assignee:: UChicago Argonne, LLC (Chicago, IL)

Patent Number(s):: 7,416,258

Application Number:: 11/404,698

OSTI ID:: 1531562

Resource Relation:: Patent File Date: 2006-04-14

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (4)

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Title: Methods of using a laser to spall and drill holes in rocks

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