Since 1997, GTI has been investigating the application of high-power laser energy to several rock lithologies for oil and gas well construction and completion. Beginning in 2003, GTI advanced its laser/ rock cutting research by performing additional rock cutting tests with a 5 kW ytterbium-doped multi-clad fiber laser.
Over the past two years, commercially available fiber lasers have increased in power from several watts to kilowatts. They are now capable of efficiently delivering requisite power via fiber optics and have rapidly evolved into a leading candidate for on-site applications including hard rock mining, tunneling, pavement cuttings and rock drilling. When compared to conventional industrial lasers, fiber lasers offer up to an order of magnitude greater wall plug efficiency, better beam quality, increased mobility due to their considerably smaller footprint and predicted maintenance-free operations over their lifetime.
This paper explores the use of fiber lasers as an alternative means to conventional rock cutting techniques that could offer greater cutting efficiencies, quality control, and economic returns. A series of tests were performed on sandstone at atmospheric conditions to determine the minimum energy required to remove rock material. Laser parameters including power level were optimized. Rock removal efficiency of fiber laser was compared with other high power lasers employed for similar research.