Influence of helix geometric parameters on surface quality during laser cutting of photovoltaic float glass

Abstract

Influence of helix geometric parameters on surface quality is investigated in laser cutting of photovoltaic float glass. 110 square holes through the selected photovoltaic float glass of thickness 2.5 mm are processed by 532 nm nanosecond laser with different helix geometric parameters (width w and overlap ratio r). Three dropping modes can be summarized by 110 group experiments as smoothing drop, serrated crack, and snowflake crack. The To ensure the falling smoothly and stably of square glasses with smooth edge, optimization ranges of helix geometric parameters are 0.45 mm ≤ w ≤ 0.55 mm and 65 % ≤ r ≤ 80 %. Micro-profile evaluation of cutting cross section was more sensitive to r than that to w. Improving of overlap ratio is useful to decrease thermal gradient, microcrack and then form small sized chipping. Homogenous distribution of different elements was in granular zone, and inhomogeneous distribution was in block zone. It can be concluded that selecting an appropriate helix line parameter is helpful to stabilize laser process and surface quality of photovoltaic float glass.