Laser processing method and laser processing apparatus
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation
InventorsKoji Funaoka, Masayuki Saiki, Takashi Inoue
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Abstract
A laser processing method for laser processing of a workpiece made of a base material and a fiber reinforced composite material containing fibers having a thermal conductivity and a processing threshold higher than physical properties of glass fibers. The laser processing method includes a step of processing the workpiece by forming a plurality of through-holes extending through the workpiece by irradiating the workpiece with pulsed laser light from a processing head while relatively moving the workpiece and the processing head in a predetermined cutting direction. The pulsed laser light has a pulse width smaller than 1 ms and an energy density capable of forming each of the through-holes by a single pulse.
Claims9
A laser processing apparatus for laser processing of a workpiece, the laser processing apparatus comprising:
- a processing head to irradiate the workpiece with a pulsed laser light to form a plurality of through-holes extending through the workpiece to divide the workpiece into a processed product and an offcut, the workpiece being made of a base material and a fiber reinforced composite material, the fiber reinforced composite material containing fibers having a thermal conductivity and a processing threshold higher than physical properties of glass fibers;
- a driver to move at least one of the workpiece and the processing head in a predetermined cutting direction during the irradiation;
- a controller to control irradiation of the workpiece with the pulsed laser light;
- and
- a nozzle to emit, during the pulsed laser light irradiation, a jet of gas from outside of an optical axis of the pulsed laser light toward the optical axis from the side of the processed product toward a processing point of the workpiece and the offcut, wherein
- the pulsed laser light has a pulse width smaller than 1 ms and an energy density capable of forming each of the through-holes by a single pulse, and
- each of the through-holes is formed by a single irradiation with the pulsed laser light.
A laser processing apparatus for laser processing of a workpiece, the laser processing apparatus comprising:
- a processing head to irradiate the workpiece with a pulsed laser light to form a plurality of through-holes extending through the workpiece, the workpiece being made of a base material and a fiber reinforced composite material, the fiber reinforced composite material containing fibers having a thermal conductivity and a processing threshold higher than physical properties of glass fibers;
- a driver to move at least one of the workpiece and the processing head in a predetermined cutting direction during the irradiation;
- a controller to control irradiation of the workpiece with the pulsed laser light;
- and
- a nozzle to emit, during the pulsed laser light irradiation, a jet of gas from outside of an optical axis of the pulsed laser light toward the optical axis, wherein
- the pulsed laser light has a pulse width smaller than 1 ms and an energy density capable of forming each of the through-holes by a single pulse,
- each of the through-holes is formed by a single irradiation with the pulsed laser light, and the workpiece is processed by changing a pulse frequency of the pulsed laser light depending on a processing speed of the workpiece in such a manner that a range of the pulse frequency depends on a range of the processing speed, the range of the pulse frequency being equal to or larger than 21 Hz and equal to or less than 700 Hz while the range of the processing speed being equal to or larger than 0.2 m/min and equal to or less than 6 m/min.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.