Method of cutting of glass strand and product produced thereby
AssigneePPG Industries, Inc.
InventorJohn Kallenborn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of cutting glass fiber strands is disclosed wherein said strands are driven across the beam of an interruptable laser. The laser beam melts the strand at each pulse of the beam cutting the strand into short lengths. The cut strands can be immediately collected and packaged or can be further subjected to a drying procedure prior to packaging. The strands formed by this method have fused and comparitively even ends as opposed to the ragged uneven ends of mechanically chopped glass strands.
Claims24
A method of cutting glass fiber strand comprising feeding said strand across a pulsating laser beam and cutting said strand with said pulsating laser beam, said feeding of strand being at a sufficient rate and said laser beam operating at a sufficient intensity to produce cut strands having end portions which are approximately even and fused into a single piece.
In a method of cutting glass fiber strand comprising attenuating glass filaments from a bushing, consolidating said filaments into a glass fiber strand and cutting said strand, the improvement wherein said cutting comprises feeding said strand across an interrupted laser beam and cutting said strand with said interrupted laser beam, said strand being fed at a sufficient rate and said laser beam operating at a sufficient intensity so as to produce cut strands having end portions which are approximately even and fused into a single piece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.