CHARACTERISTICS OF LASER CUTTING KEVLAR LAMINATES

摘要

Pockets, or partial depth cuts, were produced in Kevlar laminates by scanning the work under a pulsed beam. The bottom surface was textured with a poor surface finish. Depths can be controlled and repeated to within 0.5 mm.nThe power required to cut laminates ranging from 1.0 to 9.5 mm in thickness was determined. Using presently known techniques and a 1000-W CO2 laser, the maximum Kevlar/epoxy thickness that can be cut satisfactorily is 9.5 mm. Edge taper and kerf width in the various laminate thicknesses also was established. Edge taper increases with thickness and ranges from 0.06 to 0.22 mm. Kerf width also increases, ranging from 0.11 to 0.21 mm.nThe number of layers of material for a 3.1-mm thickness was varied from 14 to 20, and cutting power requirements were deter¬mined. The power increases uniformly from 135 to 160 W, but kerf width and edge taper remained constant.