High-efficiency and precision cutting of glass by selective laser-assisted milling

- Selective laser-assisted milling was proposed.
- Selectively heated area was removed with a cutting tool.
- It is possible to heat an area smaller than the size of the laser spot.
- The arithmetic average of the roughness profile decreased by 74%.
- Morphology of the chips was changed from crack type to quasi-continuous type.

As a hard and brittle material, glass is difficult to precisely cut with high efficiency. Although various attempts at ductile cutting of glass with high cutting depth have been reported, the low efficiency of the cutting process remains problematic. In order to achieve high-efficiency and precision cutting of glass, this paper proposes selective laser-assisted milling (SLAM). In this method, a fiber laser that has a wavelength out of the absorption band of glass is absorbed only into the small area where the black-body coating is put, and the selectively heated area is removed with a cutting tool. The experimental results of this study have demonstrated that SLAM reduces the arithmetic average of the roughness profile by 74% compared with conventional cutting. An observational analysis of the generated chips revealed that the application of SLAM changed the morphology of the chips from the crack type to the quasi-continuous type. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the high-efficiency and precision cutting of glass.