Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRPs) composites have significant properties such as high specific strength, specific stiffness and easy of tailoring to a particular application, which made them very attractive for structural applications, especially for aeronautics.
In this work, a study on the possibilities of a high quality CO2 laser to cut such composites is presented. Plates of CFRP 3 mm thick were cut by means of a 3.5 kW CO2 slab laser. The influence on the cut quality of different processing parameters such as pulse frequency, pulse energy, duty cycle, and type and pressure of the assist gas were studied. The quality of the cuts was evaluated in terms of kerf width, perpendicularity of cut kerf, delaminating degree, and extension of the heat affected zone. An adequate selection of the values of the processing parameters allows obtaining good quality cuts.