A computational model for heterogeneous heating during pulsed laser irradiation of polymers doped with light-absorbing microparticles

Doping of polymers with light-absorbing microparticles to increase their optical properties is a commonly used pre-treatment technique in laser processing of polymers. The presence of these particles plays an important role during laser heating of the polymer that influences its surface characteristics. This work presents a study based on a computational model of laser heating of polymer doped with light-absorbing microparticles accounting for the heterogeneous nature of heating. The work aims at gaining a fundamental insight into the nature of the heating process and to understand the role of microparticles. The results suggest that apart from the laser intensity and pulse duration, the properties of the microparticles including their size and distribution also play an important role during the laser heating of polymers.