Inert gas-assisted laser machining of ceramic-containing articles

摘要

An article including a ceramic material and featuring a machined surface that is characteristic of cold ablation laser machining, wherein the machined surface exhibits no visible oxidation.;A laser machining apparatus and technique based on cold-ablation, but modified or augmented with an inert assist gas, which minimizes the deleterious surface modifications and mitigates the oxide formation associated with laser machining.