CO2 laser machining on alumina ceramic: a review

Abstract

Alumina is widely used for engineering applications due to its strength, insulation characteristics, and, chemical and thermal stability. Alumina is commonly used in the automotive, aircraft, medical, and other industries. However, despite its desirable characteristics, this material is brittle and difficult to be machined. Some researchers and practitioners adopted diamond abrasive cutting process for alumina machining, but the lengthy machining time and excessive tool wear increase machining cost by 60-90%. One other alternative to the traditional machining method is laser Beam machining (LBM). The LBM process is characterized by good machining quality, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective because there is no tool wear, vibration, and cutting force. Those characters are of benefit to productivity. However, there are still issues reported such as microcrack and surface roughness during alumina laser machining that needs to be further investigated. This paper reviews the published works on alumina laser beam machining (LBM). The review focuses on the CO2 LBM system.