Analytical solution for multilayer assembly including heating and cooling cycles with laser pulse parameter variation

Laser heating of surfaces is involved with heating and cooling cycles. Material response to a laser pulse in the heating cycle is rapid while in the cooling cycle it is gradual. In this case, temperature rises rapidly in the heating cycle while temperature decay is gradual in the cooling cycle. Depending on the laser pulse properties (pulse length and intensity), the rise and fall of temperature profiles change in the surface region of the substrate material. In the present study, an analytical solution for laser heating pulse is presented and a closed-form solution for temperature distribution inside the multilayer assembly is obtained. Steel is considered as top layer while copper is situated below steel in the multilayer assembly. It is found that the analytical solution agrees well with the numerical predictions. Temperature rise in steel is higher than copper. This is due to the thickness of steel, which is larger than the absorption depth. In this case, internal energy gain dominates over the heat conduction in the energy transport process.