Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRPs) is an extremely strong and light plastic which contains carbon fibers. CFRPs can be expensive to produce but are commonly used wherever high strength-to-weight ratio and rigidity are required, such as aerospace, automotive increasing number of other consumer and technical applications. The mechanical cutting process has all its limitations and problems. The laser cutting choice could be fundamental in order to overcome those limits: it is a non-contact tool without wear because of the long use, it is very flexible and it is a thermal process, no more a mechanical one High machining speed along with mass quantity production can be achieved.

1. “Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics & Its Laser
Cutting”
Presented By
Mr.shubham chaugale
Under the Guidance of
Prof. S. S. Mantati
Department of Mechanical Engineering
UNIVERSAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND
RESEARCH, PUNE

2.  Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRPs) is an extremely strong
and light plastic which contains carbon fibers.
 CFRPs can be expensive to produce but are commonly used
wherever high strength-to-weight ratio and rigidity are required, such
as aerospace, automotive increasing number of other consumer and
technical applications.
 The mechanical cutting process has all its limitations and problems.
The laser cutting choice could be fundamental in order to overcome
those limits: it is a non-contact tool without wear because of the long
use, it is very flexible and it is a thermal process, no more a
mechanical one
 High machining speed along with mass quantity production can be
achieved

4.  To curb many problems still related with laser
cutting process, making possible the industrial
implementation in CFRP production chain.
 To avoid the Heat conduction losses in laser
cutting operation.
 To reduce the unwanted emissions from the Laser
Cutting of CFRPs.
 To reduce weight of mechanical components.
 Lower the manufacturing Cost.
 To increase capacity of Laser cutting to high
thickness material over 6mm thickness.

5.  The biggest challenge with respect to CFRP parts is the realization of an
economically efficient processing.
 As matrix and reinforcement materials have vastly different thermophysical
and chemical properties, the matrix is evaporated and decomposed much
faster than the carbon fibers, which causes distinctive Heat-affected zones
(HAZs)
 Emission of fumes and organic gases, influenced by various material and
process parameters. The composition of these process emissions is
complex, and they may contain a significant amount of toxic or even
carcinogenic (leading to cancer)components

6.  Furthermore, a lot of ultrafine particles, having the
potential to be incorporated into the pulmonary alveoli,
may be generated
 The fumes contain fibrous particles which may behave
similar to asbestos fibers in the lung tissue due to their
geometry.

7.  The exposure limit values for hazardous substances in the air
at the workplace are listed in the technical rule TRGS 900
(2014).
 The values have to be met by adequate measures, starting
from technical measures to reduce hazardous substances
,preventing access to the working area.
 Available instrumentation, such as flame ionization detection,
infrared sensor technology, electrical low-pressure cascade
impaction, and scanning electron microscopy.

8.  Relevant amounts of VOCs
 Carbon monoxide
 Spherical and fibrous particles
 Fumes
 Organic Gases
 Toxic
 Carcinogenic Components

9.  While body panels and hang-on parts usually have a thickness between 0.8 and 1.5
mm, structural car body parts often feature areas of increased thicknesses above 6
mm.
 Theyare often manufactured with an inner shape and an outer shape thatare then
glued together resulting in an increased final part thickness.
 Nearly all CFRP parts need to be trimmed to their final shape.
 Therefore,a cutting process should ideally be able to efficiently cut thinner parts but
should at the same time also be capable of cutting thicker areas.

10.  Comparing the processing speed of different cutting processes – milling, abrasive
water jet cutting and laser cutting – with respect to the material thickness.
 Obviously, laser cutting is an attractive alternative for cutting thin materials up to
around 5–6mm,where approaches using high power lasers.
 Higher process speeds than milling and water jet cutting.
 Using a remote cutting approach further increases the possible speed for a given laser
power.

12.  Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) show high
potential for use in lightweight applications not only in
aircraft design, but also in the automotive or wind energy
in
 large parts of different aircrafts are made from CFRP
(e.g. Airbus A350XWB), helping to reduce fossil fuel and
energy consumption.
 Increasing interest in such CFPR materials is noticed in
the automotive industry,(e.g. Volkswagen XL1) as well as
by the efforts of major automotive companies to
implement CFRP into their series production (e.g. BMW
i3 or Audi R8 GT).

13.  Nowadays, relevant applications can also
be found in the wind energy industry (rotor
blades with structure-reinforcing CFRP
parts)
The sports segment (bicycle frames, tennis
rackets, canoe paddles, or hulls and masts
in boatbuilding).

15. This study is focused to the feasibility of fiber laser beam cutting
process to composite parts. CFRP plates of 4 kind thicknesses were
prepared, and proper cutting condition for each panel was examined,
then effect of the heat affected zone by cutting on strength was
examined by flexure test. There are some reports to discuss the
application of laser to cutting of FRP plate, however most of studies
concerns about the application of CO2 laser and YAG laser etc.
Case Study On Laser Cutting
& CFRP
For the laser cutting experiments, CFRP samples of b = 3.5 mm
thickness with thermosetting epoxy matrix
(CF-Epoxy) and b = 2.2 mm with thermoplastic polyphenylene
sulfide matrix.

16. The experiments were performed using a new 1.5 kW single-mode
continuous-wave fiber laser system (type FL015C, ROFIN-SINAR
Laser GmbH, Hamburg, Germany). The radiation was guided
through an optical fibre to a galvanometer scanner , equipped with
an F-Theta plane-field lens providing a focal length of 340 mm,
resulting in a focal diameter of approximately 70 μm. Using this
scanner, quadratic contours of 20 x 20 mm2 with rounded edges,
corresponding to contour lengths of 71.4 mm, were generated on the
work piece surface.

17. I. Very high speed cutting of thick CFRP plate could be conducted
by fiber laser. Its speed was over one order higher than that of
mechanical cutting.
II. Width of heat affected zone mainly depended on cutting speed
and decreased with increase of cutting speed.
III. Flexural strength was recovered to as received condition if heat
affected zone was sufficiently removed.
Conclusion of case study

18.  Choosing an optimized cutting strategy for these materials, i.e. multipass
cutting with additional breaks to allow for sufficiently long intermediate
cooling-down phases of the material, helps not only to improve the cutting
qualities considerably, but also to reduce the hazardous emissions.
 Filtering the exhaust air with a surface filter to remove the aerosols, and then
with an activated charcoal filter to absorb the VOCs and the carbon
monoxide, ensures protection of the environment adequately.
 Catalytic cleaning appears to be a promising alternative, as all components
of the composite materials can potentially be transformed to less hazardous
substances such as CO2 and H2O and thus no hazardous residuals have to
be dealt with.

19.  [1] Faraz, A.; Biermann, D.; Weinert, K.: Cutting edge rounding: An
innovative tool wear criterion in drilling CFRP composite laminates.
International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 49 (2009) 15, pp.
1185–1196.
 [2] Folkes, J.: Waterjet—An innovative tool for manufacturing. Journal of
Materials Processing Technology 209 (2009) 20, pp. 6181–6189.
 [3] Shanmugam, D.; Nguyen, T.; Wang, J.: A study of delamination on
graphite/epoxy composites in abrasive waterjet machining. Composites
Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 39 (2008) 6, pp. 923–929.
 [4] Shanmugam, D.; Chen, F.; Siores, E.; Brandt, M.: Comparative study
of jetting machining technologies over laser machining technology for
cutting composite materials. Composite Structures 57 (2002) Issues 1-4,
pp. 289–296.
 [5] C. Leone, N. P. de: Solid state Nd:YAG laser cutting of CFRP sheet:
influence of process parameters on kerf geometry
and HAZ. (Hrsg.)