For laser processing of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), high intensities over 108 W/cm² are necessary to process the material with a thermal damage smaller than 10 µm. Today such high intensities are preferably achieved with ultra-short pulse laser systems. However, the average laser power of such laser systems is usually too low for productive cutting processes. The IFSW thin-disk multipass amplifier yielding a maximum average output power of 1400 W at a pulse repetition rate of 300 kHz, a pulse duration of 8 ps, and a pulse energy of about 4.7 mJ allowed for the first time to process CFRP at this average power and pulse energy level. In the presented experiments, the average laser power was limited to 1.1 kW and the pulse energy to 3.7 mJ.

With this unique laser system CFRP with a thickness of 2 mm was cut by deflecting the laser beam multiple times over the same trajectory with a fast scanner system. By avoiding heat accumulation effects it was possible to minimize the extent of the thermal damage to below 10 µm. The effective average cutting speed was 0.9 m/min.

1.
Sheng
,
P.
&
Chryssolouris
,
G.
(
1995
)
Theoretical Model of Laser Grooving for Composite Materials
,
Journal of Composite Materials
29
,
96
112
.
2.
Trigg
,
T. A.
(
1969
) Carbon fibre composites in rocket motor systems, in
3d Brit. Interplanet. Soc. Symp. On Mater. In Space Technol
.,
Bristol, England
.
3.
Pradere
,
C.
,
Batsale
,
J. C.
,
Goyhénèche
,
J. M.
,
Pailler
,
R.
&
Dilhaire
,
S.
(
2009
)
Thermal properties of carbon fibers at very high temperature
,
Carbon
47
,
737
743
.
4.
Sundqvist
,
B.
,
Sandberg
,
O.
&
Bäckström
,
G.
(
1977
)
The thermal properties of an epoxy resin at high pressure and temperature
,
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
10
,
1397
1403
.
5.
Griffs
,
C. A.
,
Masumura
,
R. A.
&
Chang
,
C. I.
(
1981
)
Thermal response of graphite epoxy composite subjected to rapid heating
,
Journal of Composite Materials
29
,
96
112
.
6.
Freitag
,
C.
,
Onuseit
,
V.
,
Weber
,
R.
&
Graf
,
T.
(
2012
)
High-speed observation of the heat flow in CFRP during laser processing
,
Physics Procedia
39
,
171
178
.
7.
Riveiro
,
A.
,
Quintero
,
F.
,
Lusquiños
,
F.
,
Comesaña
,
R.
,
Boutinguiza
,
M.
&
Pou
,
J.
(
2009
)
CO2 Laser Cutting of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic Composite
, in
Proceedings of the Fifth International WLT-Conference on Lasers in Manufacturing 2009
,
Munich, Germany
,
239
244
.
8.
Herzog
,
D.
,
Jaeschke
,
P.
,
Meier
,
O.
&
Haferkamp
,
H.
(
2008
)
Investigations on the thermal effect caused by laser cutting with respect to static strength of CFRP
,
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture
48
,
1464
1473
.
9.
Goeke
,
A.
&
Emmelmann
,
C.
(
2010
)
Influence of Laser Cutting Parameters on CFRP Part Quality
,
Physics Procedia
5
,
253
258
.
10.
Klotzbach
,
A.
,
Hauser
,
M.
&
Beyer
,
E.
(
2011
)
Laser Cutting of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers using Highly Brilliant Laser Beam Sources
,
Physics Procedia
12
,
572
577
.
11.
Stock
,
J.
,
Zaeh
,
M. F.
&
Conrad
,
M.
(
2012
)
Remote Laser Cutting of CFRP: Improvements in the Cut Surface
,
Physics Procedia
39
,
161
170
.
12.
Weber
,
R.
,
Hafner
,
M.
,
Michalowski
,
A.
&
Graf
,
T.
(
2011
)
Minimum damage in CFRP laser processing
,
Physics Procedia
12
(
2
),
302
307
.
13.
Romoli
,
L.
,
Fischer
,
F.
&
Kling
,
R.
(
2012
)
A study on UV laser drilling of PEEK reinforced with carbon fibers
,
Optics and Lasers in Engineering
50
,
449
457
.
14.
Wolynski
,
A.
,
Herrmann
,
T.
,
Mucha
,
P.
,
Haloui
,
H.
&
L’huillier
,
J.
(
2011
)
Laser ablation of CFRP using picosecond laser pulses at different wavelengths from UV to IR
,
Physics Procedia
12
,
292
301
.
15.
Negel
,
J.-P.
,
Voss
,
A.
,
Abdou-Ahmed
,
M.
,
Bauer
,
D.
,
Sutter
,
D.
,
Killi
,
A.
&
Graf
,
T.
(
2013
)
1.1 kW average output power from a thin-disk multipass amplifier for ultrashort laser pulses
,
Optics Letters
38
(
24
),
5442
5445
.
16.
Weber
,
R.
,
Freitag
,
C.
,
Kononenko
,
T. V.
,
Hafner
,
M.
,
Onuseit
,
V.
,
Berger
,
P.
&
Graf
,
T.
(
2012
)
Short-pulse laser processing of CFRP
,
Physics Procedia
39
,
137
146
.
17.
Weber
,
R.
,
Graf
,
T.
,
Berger
,
P.
,
Onuseit
,
V.
,
Wiedenmann
,
M.
,
Freitag
,
C.
&
Feuer
,
A.
(
2014
)
Heat accumulation during pulsed laser materials processing
,
Optics Express
22
(
9
),
11312
11324
.
18.
Weber
,
R.
,
Onuseit
,
V.
,
Tscheulin
,
S.
&
Graf
,
T.
(
2013
)
High-efficiency laser processing of CFRP
, in
Proceedings of International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics ICALEO
2013
,
Miami, USA
.
19.
Freitag
,
C.
,
Weber
,
R.
&
Graf
,
T.
(
2014
)
Polarization dependence of laser interaction with carbon fibers and CFRP
,
Optics Express
22
(
2
),
1474
1479
.
20.
Stritt
,
P.
,
Weber
,
R.
,
Esser
,
A.
,
Graf
,
T.
&
Weberpals
,
J.-P.
(
2012
)
Laser Safety Barriers in Proceedings of Stuttgarter Lasertage SLT
2012
,
Stuttgart, Germany
.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.