Abstract
Carbon fiber reinforced thermo plastics (CFRTP), which is expected to reduce the weight of transportations and is made higher speed and lower cost than these of CFRP, was cut by a CO_2 gas laser (10.6μm, 800W, CW(continuous wave), 1 m/min), single-mode fiber laser (1.07μm, 300W,350W or 2000W, CW, 1-7m/min) and machining with milling. Although the high-power laser cutting processes make it possible to improve cutting rate of CFRTP, the laser-cut specimens clearly showed a thermal damage with a heat-affected zone (HAZ) identified by a micro X-ray CT observation. These laser-cut specimens were lower tensile strength than milling-cut specimens. From the results of thermo-elastic stress analysis, low-stress field was generated in the HAZ, led to the cause of strength degradation.
