Laser cutting of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) by 1kW cw fiber laser irradiation

We report on the laser cutting of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) with a cw IR fiber laser (average power: 1kW). CFRP is a high strength composite material with a lightweight, and is increasingly being used various applications. A well-defined cutting of CFRP which were free of debris and thermal-damages around the grooves, were performed by the laser irradiation with a fast beam galvanometer scanning on a multiple-scan-pass method.