CO_2 LASER FREE-SHAPE CUTTING OF FLEXIBLE GLASS SUBSTRATES

摘要

We investigated CO_2 laser free-shape cutting of flexible glass substrates. The technique uses tensile stress to propagate a full-body crack along the perimeter of the glass article to be cut. The tensile stress was generated by the CO_2 laser heating and subsequent ambient air cooling process. A round laser beam was rapidly (>10 m/s) scanned along the perimeter of the glass using an optical scanner. The rapidly moving laser beam generates a fast moving tensile stress field during the process and a free-shape glass article was cut out in few seconds. We present free-shape cutting examples on flexible glass substrates.