Laser cutting of carbon fibre reinforced plastics of high thickness

Laser cutting of CFRP is an interesting, wear-free alternative to conventional cutting of CFRP with increasing production volumes of CFRP-parts, especially in the automotive and aerospace industries. Cutting CFRP with laser has been investigated by several research groups but was usually limited to thin structures. This paper deals with a new approach to enable laser cutting of CFRP parts with a thickness above 6 mm. Based on a remote cutting approach, experiments were conducted in order to generate high process speeds and reduce heat affected zones to around 200 mm. It was found that laser cutting may be applied to thicknesses around 6 mm while keeping the width of the cut in the size of the focal spot, before shadowing effects prevent the laser from penetrating deeper into the material. When even thicker laminates need to be cut, parallel passes may be used to widen the cut, and enabling the laser focus to follow into the cut kerf. With the latter approach, CFRP with a thickness of up to 13 mm has been cut.