Experimental Investigation of Laser Cutting on Cement Composites

Abstract

This study proposed the applicability of laser cutting technology for cement composites using multi-mode fiber laser. Moreover, the results of an experimental investigation on the visual observation and chemical analysis of cement composites under the laser cutting are presented. The experimental variables are water to cement ratio, types of mixtures for cement composites, laser speed. The laser used in this study is multi-mode fiber laser (IPG YLS-10000) and the laser power is set at 9 kW. After the laser cutting, the surface and cross-section of the cement composite are observed. Furthermore, the kerf width and penetration depth of specimens were measured to analyze the kerf width and penetration depth according to the laser cutting speed. In addition to these observation, EDX component analysis is performed to analyze chemical composition changes before and after laser cutting. Key words: Cement composites, Laser cutting, Multi-mode fiber laser, Chemical analysis