Ablation behaviors of carbon reinforced polymer composites by laser of different operation modes

•Laser ablation behaviors of CFRP laminate are investigated.•The effects of operation modes are compared and interpreted.•Continuous wave laser led to constant ablation of the CFRP laminate.•Long duration pulsed laser made conical hole through CFRP laminate.•Short duration pulsed laser developed air breakdown before the target.

Laser ablation mechanism of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite is of critical meaning for the laser machining process. The ablation behaviors are investigated on the CFRP laminates subject to continuous wave, long duration pulsed wave and short duration pulsed wave lasers. Distinctive ablation phenomena have been observed and the effects of laser operation modes are discussed. The typical temperature patterns resulted from laser irradiation are computed by finite element analysis and thereby the different ablation mechanisms are interpreted.