CW CO2 laser cutting of plastics

Cw carbon-laser cutting of plastics is studied experimentally and theoretically. Cutting of plates of PMMA, teflon-PMMA- teflon sandwich structure, and Si-rubber is presented. A three dimensional heat transfer model of laser cutting with a moving Gaussian heat source is elaborated and applied here. The model is based on the energy balance for a given small volume in the material. The maximal scanning speed as a function of the incident laser power and the material thickness is investigated. A very good agreement between the theoretical and experimental data is observed.