Research progress on the quality and efficiency of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer composites processed by laser

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Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) has been widely used in aerospace, military weapons, new energy and high-end vehicles due to its specific and superior strength, low density and long-lasting wear resistance. The processing of CFRP is very different from the traditional metal processing because of its heterogeneous structure, anisotropy and superior wear resistance of CFRP. Usually, CFRP has often various defects in mechanical processing and water jet processing, such as interlayer tearing, fiber pull-out, delamination, tool wear, and abrasive penetration. Through laser processing, the problems of CFRP materials existing in mechanical processing can be overcome. However, due to the huge differences in thermal physical properties such as thermal conductivity and vaporization temperature of carbon fiber and resin in CFRP, its laser processing also turns out to have some issues, such as heat-affected zone and fiber end expansion. This paper summarizes the research results of CFRP laser processing in China and internationally. Research progress was introduced in detail from various aspects including laser and material mechanism as well as laser processing parameters. It reports the experimental and theoretical studies covering the process accuracy in edge quality and the thermal characteristics in terms of heat-affected zone. Eliminating the heat-affected zone in the polymer matrix are considered the major obstacles of CFRP industrial applications. The methods of improving processing efficiency by increasing material removal rate and reducing processing time were reviewed. The influence of different thermal conductivity of carbon fiber and resin matrix in CFRP on the processing quality was discussed. Finally, the development trend and challenges of thermal conductivity of carbon fiber and resin in CFRP in theoretical modeling were proposed.