Laser Machining of Polymer Matrix Composites: Scope, Limitation and Application
 |
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) | 
|
| © 2013 by IJETT Journal | ||
| Volume-4 Issue-6 |
||
| Year of Publication : 2013 | ||
| Authors : Pathik Patel , Piyush Gohil , Shilpesh Rajpurohit |
Citation
Pathik Patel , Piyush Gohil , Shilpesh Rajpurohit. "Laser Machining of Polymer Matrix Composites: Scope, Limitation and Application". International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT). V4(6):2391-2399 Jun 2013. ISSN:2231-5381. www.ijettjournal.org. published by seventh sense research group.
Abstract
This paper presents an overview of laser beam machining and researches carried out so far in the area of laser cutting of polymer matrix composites. Composite materials are highly promising materials for applications in the aeronautic, aerospace, automotive and marine industry, but their properties like brittleness, anisotropy and non - homogeneity make it a difficult to machine material by conventional machining methods. In order to make parts of the required specifications from composites an appropriate machining method must be selected and laser machining offers an attractive alternative for machining the composites. Laser machining is thermal energy based non - contact type advance machining. Laser beam is focused on the ma terial to remove material by melting and vaporizing. Laser cutting of composites find wide application in industry due to improved end product quality, low cost and short processing time. In recent years number of researches have explored laser beam machin ing of polymer matrix composites and the problem associated with that. This paper gives an overview of laser beam machining of polymer matrix composites, the effect of laser cutting parameters (laser power, cutting speed, gas pressure etc.) on the cut qual ity parameters (heat affected zone, surface roughness, kerfwidth, taper angle etc.) and at last the problems associated with cutting of composites are discussed as future work.
References
[1] A vailable: http://www.worldoflasers.com/laserprinciples.htm
[2] Availabl e: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/838099 - overview#aw2aab6b4
[3] William T. Silfvast, ‘Laser Fundamental,’ 2nd edtion, 2004.
[4] Marvin J. Weber. HANDBOOK OF LASERS. CRC Press LLC, 2001.
[5] Narendra B. Daho tre and Sandip P.Harimkar, Laser Fabrication and Machin ing of Materials. Springer Science + Business Media, 2008.
[6] G. Caprino, V. Tagliaferri and L. Covelli, “Cutting glass fibre reinforced composites using CO 2 laser with multimodal - gaussian distribution,” Int. J. Mach. Tools Manufact, vol. 35, pp. 831 - 840, 19 95.
[7] A.A. Cenna and P. Mathew, “Evaluation of cut quality of fibre - reinforced plastics - a review ,” Int. J. Mach. Tools Manufact, vol. 37 , pp . 723 - 736, 1997.
[8] Ian P. Tuersley, Tony P. Hoult and Ian R. Pashby, “Nd – YAG laser machining of sic fi bre/ borosilicate g lass composites. Part I. Optimisation of laser pulse parameters,” Composites Part A, vol. 29A, pp. 947 – 954, 1998.
[9] Ian P. Tuersley, Tony P. Hoult and Ian R. Pashby, “Nd – YA G laser machining of SiC fibre/ borosilicate glass composites. Part II. The effect of p rocess variables,” Composites Part A, vol. 29A, pp. 955 – 964, 1998.
[10] Jose Mathew, G.L. Goswami, N. Ramakrishnan, and N.K. Naik, “Parametric studies on pulsed Nd:YAG laser cutting of carbon - fibre reinforced plastic composites,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology , vol. 89 – 90, pp.198 – 203, 1999.
[11] K.C. Yung, S.M. Mei, and T.M. Yue, “A study of the heat - affected zone in the UV YAG laser drilling of GFRP materials,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology , vol. 122, pp. 278 – 285, 2002.
[12] A.A. Cenna, and P. Ma thew, “Analysis and prediction of laser cutting parameters of fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) composite materials,” International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture, vol. 42, pp. 105 – 113, 2002.
[13] F.A. Al - Sulaiman, B.S. Yilbas and M. Ahs an, “CO 2 laser cut ting of a carbon/carbon multi - lamelled plain - weave structure,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology, vol. 173, pp. 345 - 351, 2006.
[14] J. Paulo Davim, Nuno Barricas, Marta Conceic and Carlos Oliveira, “ Some experimental studies on CO 2 laser cutting qualit y of polymeric materials,” Journal of materials processing technology, vol. 198, pp. 99 - 104, 2008.
[15] Avanish Kumar Dubey, and Vinod Yadava, “Multi - objective optimization of laser beam cutting process,” Optics & Laser Technology, vol. 40, pp.562 – 570, 2008.
[16] I. A.Choudhury, and S. Shirley, “Laser cutting of polymeric materials: An experimental investigation,” Optics & Laser Technology, vol. 42, pp. 503 – 508, 2010.
[17] A. Riveiro, F. Quintero, F. Lusquiños, J. del Val, R.Comesaña, and M.Boutinguiz. J. Pou, “Experimenta l study on the CO2 laser cutting of carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite,” Composites: Part A, vol. 43, pp.1400 – 1409, 2012
Keywords
laser cutting, CO2 laser, polymer matrix composites, kerfwidth.