In this paper, laser processing of fiber reinforced thermoplastics is investigated with different laser sources. Aim of the study is to determine the process windows in which selective ablation of polymer matrix and homogenous ablation of matrix and fiber occurs. To reach this, laser sources with different wavelengths (10600 nm, 1064 nm and 532 nm) and pulse durations in μs, ns and ps regime are compared on their ablation behavior of natural and black colored glass fiber reinforced polypropylene. Best results were achieved with ns lasers with IR wavelength at black colored material. At this parameter combination a wide process window can be shown where no damage of the reinforcing fibers happens.

Date Published: 12 March 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9351, Laser-based Micro- and Nanoprocessing IX, 93510N (12 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2081903

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9351:
Laser-based Micro- and Nanoprocessing IX
Udo Klotzbach; Kunihiko Washio; Craig B. Arnold, Editor(s)