Laser Heating of Polymers
In many technical process polymeric materials are heated using laser irradiation. If the laser power is high, a plasma is locally formed eventually resulting in ablation of the polymeric material. However under more moderate conditions it is possible to heat polymers well above their depolymerization temperature for short times without compromising their integrity. In this context we currently investigate the time temperature profile of the laser heating process in order to understand the response of polymers under extreme none equilibrium conditions.