Laser Cutting of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermo-Plastic (CFRTP) by IR Laser Irradiation

摘要

We report on the laser cutting of carbon fiber reinforced thermo-plastic (CFRTP) with a cw IR fiber laser (average power: 1 kW). CFRTP is a composite material which contains carbon fibers and binding thermoplastic. A well-defined cutting of CFRTP which was free of debris around the groove was performed by the laser irradiation with a fast beam galvanometer scanning on a multiple-scan-pass method. The area of laser-induced damages in the samples was observed by microscopic X-ray Computed Tomography and micro- Raman spectroscopy. Laser cutting with a high speed beam scanning exhibits a clean top and an excellent sidewall quality along with a negligible heat affected zone.