Experimental study on the CO2 laser cutting of carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite

Promotion of massive application of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) in the industry can be accomplished by using faster and more flexible technologies such as laser cutting. The anisotropic and heterogeneous features of the CFRP make laser processing very challenging.A comprehensive study on the cut performance of a CO2 laser to process sheets (3 mm thick) of a CFRP composite is presented. A high-beam quality CO2 laser has been used in order to ascertain the capabilities of CO2 laser cutting machines, widely used in metalworking applications, on the machining of this material. On the other hand, the influence of processing parameters, in both CW and pulsed mode, on the cut quality was studied.Cuts with a minimum heat affected zone, about 540 μm, were achieved using a high-beam quality CO2 laser working in pulsed mode. In consequence, the CFRP strength remains practically unaffected compared to more conventional mechanical machining.