About Us

A new way to drill hard and brittle materials

The Laser Augmented Diamond Drilling research project has as an objective to find an effective way to work with materials in the manufacturing industry that may be too hard or brittle to efficiently drill. The drilling machine industry is well established, but we believe it can be made better with LADD. Funded by the National Science Foundation—NSF, this project comes from several years of research.

Laser Augmented Diamond Drilling is a new technique to drill hard and brittle materials. It utilizes a laser that is focused through an optically transparent diamond bit to drill the workpiece. The laser decreases the hardness and brittleness of the material by heating and thermally softening, and also increases the tool life.

The LADD system can achieve enhanced ductility, through reduced hardness (and reduced brittleness) resulting from laser assisted heating and thermal softening, to promote more efficient, productive and less costly overall drilling process.

Manufacturing Solution

The LADD technology can help those in the manufacturing industry that work with hard and brittle materials like composites and ceramics. Since the LADD process offers better quality and a better finished product, it provides an advantage over conventional drilling methods. Some of the benefits of using LADD include:

  1. Increased tool life
  2. Reduced fractures in work piece
  3. Improved finish quality
  4. Reduction of processing costs
  5. And more...