Acoustic damage detection in laser-cut CFRP composite materials

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) composite material, which is expected to reduce the weight of automotive, airplane and etc., was cut by laser irradiation with a pulsed-CO 2 laser (TRUMPF TFL5000; P=800W, 20kHz, W=8 s, O =10.6 m, V=1m/min) and single-mode fiber lasers (IPG YLR-300-SM; P=300W, O =1.07 m, V=1m/min)(IPG YLR-2000-SM; P=2kW, O =1.07 m, V=7m/min). To detect thermal damage at the laser cutting of CFRP materials consisting of thermoset resin matrix and PAN or PI TCH-based carbon fiber, the cut quality was observed by X-ray CT. The effect of laser cutting process on the mechanical strength for CFRP tested at the tensile test. Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring, high-speed camera and scanning electron microscopy were used for the failure process analysis. AE signals and fractographic features ch aracteristic of each laser-cu t CFRP were identified. Keywords: CFRP, Laser process, Fiber laser, CO 2 laser, Water-jet, Machining, Tensile test, X-ray CT, Acoustic emission