Laser Cutting of Reinforced Materials

Abstract

The structural complexity of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP), essentially an inhomogeneous and anisotropic material, explains its peculiar behavior under conventional machining conditions: for instance, it is well known that FRP laminates exhibit poor quality cut surfaces, due to spalled fibers, fuzzing, and delaminations when drilled or routed by conventional tools. Laser cutting has been proposed as a viable method for cutting fiber-reinforced materials. The expected advantages of lasers depend on the thermal nature of the cutting process, which does not involve any mechanical force applied to the material. The effects of laser beam on a material is generally connected with the following characteristics of the beam and material properties: power density, wavelength of emission, interaction time, polarization of the beam, absorption coefficient at the given wavelength, melting and vaporization temperature, thermal conductivity, and heat capacity. Glass FRP, carbon FRP, and aramide FRP panels were hand-laid-up and press-molded following the resin supplier specifications.