Cutting glass substrates in melting means with dual laser beams

A line-shape laser was applied to reduce the thermal stress in glass laser cutting with melting method. The mathematical model was put forward, and the temperature and the thermal stress fields were calculated by using Finite-Element-Method (FEM) software ANSYS. Through numerical studies, it was concluded that with the aid of the line-shape laser, the value of the thermal stress induced in glass could be controlled below the critical value, and the glass could be cut in melting method. The experimental results showed that with the aid of the line-shape laser, the cutting quality can be improved greatly comparing with that by a focused laser beam alone, and there were no fracture trails on the cutting profile comparing with that cutting glass with the controlled fracture method. However, there were few cross cracks induced by the residual stress after the laser cutting in melting method, which needs a further studied.