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Numerical simulation of laser machining of carbon-fibre-reinforced composites

R Negarestani, M Sundar, M A Sheikh, P Mativenga, L Li, Z L Li, P L Chu, C C Khin, H Y Zheng and G C Lim Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture 2010 224: 1017 DOI: 10.1243/09544054JEM1662 The online version of this article can be found at: http://pib.sagepub.com/content/224/7/1017

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Numerical simulation of laser machining of carbon-fibre-reinforced composites

R Negarestani1*, M Sundar1, M A Sheikh1, P Mativenga1, L Li1, Z L Li2, P L Chu2, C C Khin2, H Y Zheng2, and G C Lim2 1 Manufacturing and Laser Processing Group, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK 2 Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore, Singapore The manuscript was received on 20 May 2009 and was accepted after revision for publication on 5 November 2009. DOI: 10.1243/09544054JEM1662

Abstract: The growing use of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites as highperformance lightweight materials in aerospace and automotive industries demands efficient and low-cost machining technologies. The use of laser machining for cutting and drilling composites is attractive owing to its high speed, flexibility, and ease of automation. However, the anisotropic material properties of composites, and issues related to the heat-affected zone (HAZ), charring, and potential delamination during laser processing, are major obstacles in its industrial applications. In order to improve the quality and dimensional accuracy of CFRP laser machining, it is important to understand the mechanism of the transient thermal behaviour and its effect on material removal. Based on the element death technique of the finite element (FE) method, a three-dimensional model for simulating the transient temperature field and subsequent material removal has been developed, for the first time, on a heterogeneous fibrematrix mesh. In addition to the transient temperature field, the model also predicts the dimensions of the HAZ during the laser machining process. Experimental results obtained with same process variables using a 355 nm DPSS Nd:YVO4 laser were used to validate the model. Based on the investigation, the mechanism of material removal in laser composite machining is proposed. The results suggest that the employed FE approach can be used to simulate pulsed laser cutting of fibre-reinforced polymer composites. Keywords: finite element modelling, laser cutting, composites, 355 nm DPSS Nd:YVO4 laser

1 INTRODUCTION It is challenging to develop a process envelop for laser machining of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites owing to their inhomogeneous properties and structures. The decomposition/ vaporization of the matrix and fibre in CFRP composites occurs in different temperature ranges [1]. During laser processing, the temperature at the machining front may not reach the vaporization temperature of fibres, but it can be significantly higher than the degradation or decomposition temperature of the polymer. This results in degradation of the polymer matrix around the ablation site. The
*Corresponding author: Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, D09 Floor D, Pariser Building, Sackville Street, Manchester M60 1QD, UK. email: rnegarestani@gmail.com
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large difference in thermal properties between the two constituent materials also results in a large heataffected zone (HAZ) [2, 3]. The high thermal conductivity of carbon fibres in particular results in severe thermal damage to these materials during laser processing [1]. Simulation of the laser cutting process is therefore required not only to understand the HAZ formation, but also to improve the laser cut quality with respect to surface quality and dimensional accuracy [4] and to gain a better understanding of the embedded phenomena and mechanisms. Different analyses have been reported on HAZ prediction in one dimension [1] and two dimensions [5, 6] or the removal depth [7, 8] using analytical and numerical modelling of laser machining of fibrereinforced polymers (FRPs) in general and CFRPs in particular. The feasibility of the finite element (FE) method as an alternative modelling approach has
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been reported in two previous publications. Chen and Cheng [9] developed an FE model to determine the HAZ during cutting of Kevlar, glass, and carbon fibre composites based on the material properties and cutting parameters. They applied a prescribed temperaturetime history to the reference node. The material removal was not modelled and heat loss was not considered. Newnham and Abrate [10] presented a general two-dimensional (2D) formulation for FE analysis (FEA) of heat transfer in CFRP composites. Their model was based on anisotropic (depending on the fibre orientation relative to the cutting direction) and homogeneous (volume fraction average of the matrix and fibre) material properties. Their model showed a complex temperature distribution near the laser beam but did not include the material removal. The diversity of the factors involved in modelling of composite machining processes, especially those associated with anisotropic material properties and simultaneous evaporation of the two different materials (fibre and resin), imposes limitations on the analytical modelling approaches. In the current paper, a three-dimensional (3D) FE model is developed for predicting the transient temperature field together with the subsequent material removal during laser machining of CFRP composites, for the first time. A commercial FE program (ANSYS) is used for this purpose utilizing its Parametric Design Language. For the first time, the model represents a heterogeneous mesh (fibre and matrix) for the composite with anisotropic material properties. The material properties are input according to findings from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and spectrometry analysis on beam absorption, and the temperature dependency of the thermal conductivity [11] is applied. The numerical approach used enables efficient prediction of material removal during the process in a pulsed moving laser beam. The ablation depth is hence predicted by the FEA simulation and not pre-defined. The model also simulates the chip removal mechanism in CFRPs (using consequential spaced scanning of the material by the laser beam [12]) for the first time. The experimental results obtained with a 355 nm diode pumped solid-state (DPSS) Nd:YVO4 laser, being reported for clean cutting of these materials [12], was used to validate the FE results under similar processing parameters.

The laser beam was delivered to the workpiece using a galvanometric scanner with an f-theta lens achieving a spot size of 25 mm and 0.3 mm depth of focus. The focal plane of the laser beam was set at the surface of the workpiece that was mounted on a computer numeric control XYZ table. Fully cured [0/90 ]2 (i.e. 0.3 mm thick) and [0/90 ]6 (i.e. 1 mm thick) CFRP composite laminates were used for the experiments. The volume fraction of carbon fibres (7 mm in diameter) was 0.60 and the resin was Nelcote E-765 epoxy. The experimental investigation showed that the quality of the process deteriorated for the 1 mm thick samples if a single track was used. This was due to the small spot size of the beam (25 mm) that resulted in a high-aspect-ratio cut which required a high number of passes to cut through the material. This not only affected the material removal rate (MRR) but also increased the accumulated heat effect, which increased the quality defects. The multiple tracks strategy [12] was therefore adopted for processing the 1 mm thick samples to improve the MRR and the quality. The 0.3 mm samples were machined with multiple passes on a single track of 30 mm long cut (referred to herein as single-line cutting). Figure 1(a) presents a simplified sketch of the material removal procedure during single-line cutting. In each pass some penetration occurs until eventually the material is cut through. For the 1 mm thick samples, on the other hand, multiple passes on two linear tracks of 30 mm
1st Pass 2nd Pass 3rd Pass nth Pass

Through Cut

(a)
1st laser path 2nd laser path

chip removal region

spacing

2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP An Avia-X high-power Q-switched third-harmonic Nd:YVO4 DPSS system with a wavelength of 355 nm was used for the experiments. The output beam profile was Gaussian in shape. All experiments were performed at a frequency of 40 kHz, pulse duration of 25 ns, and a maximum average output power of 10 W.
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Parent material

(b)
Fig. 1 Strategies used for laser machining: (a) sketch of laser beam scanning on a single track with multiple passes, i.e. single-line cutting; (b) sketches of laser beam scanning on two tracks with multiple passes, i.e. double-line cutting
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long cut (two-line cutting; referred to herein as double-line cutting), were performed as depicted schematically in Fig. 1(b). The second track was scanned with different spacing from the first track to investigate the scanning spacing effect on chip formation. As depicted in Fig. 1(b), in some of the regions between the tracks that gain enough energy to disintegrate the matrix (but not enough to vaporize the fibres), fibre chips are formed (shown as the dash lined region in Fig. 1(b)). This chip removal mechanism improves the MRR as well as reducing the thermal defects [12].

(b) the fibre distribution is considered to be uniform based on the volume fraction; (c) a single pass on a single track of laser machining is considered; (d) beam scattering inside the groove and its interaction with the vapour are ignored. 3.2 Geometric model and FE mesh From microscopy of the cross-section of the composite lamina, the fibre arrangement was simplified to be uniform with a diameter of 7 mm and a spacing (filled with the resin) of 1 mm for the modelled 50 mm depth of material. The voids were neglected owing to their low content, i.e. 2 per cent [13]. Figure 2 shows the 3D mesh generated for the laminate with regions representing fibres and resin. 3.3 Material properties An important problem in numerical simulation of composites is the lack of available property data. Every attempt has been made to determine and use realistic material properties for the model. The temperature of decomposition for the material was determined experimentally from TGA. As shown in Fig. 3, the material decomposition starts at 593 K, with carbon loss starting at 773 K. At 1155 K, 96 per cent weight loss is observed. This was assumed as the total weight loss for the simulation. The heat released or absorbed from the epoxy decomposition, nitridation, and oxidation was ignored. The coefficient of beam absorption of the material at the incident wavelength was determined by reflectivity spectrum analysis on the samples using a Jena Analysis Specord 250 UV spectrophotometer. For 355 nm (in line with the experimental system) the reflectivity was found to be 7 per cent. High ultraviolet absorption of the polymer resin [14] contributes to the low

3 FE MODELLING 3.1 Procedure and assumptions The two explained processing cases, namely singleline cutting and double-line cutting, were studied using FEA. The mesh geometry was restricted to the computation time and space requirements. In the current study it was aimed to configure a realistic model of the material with actual prediction of the ablation depth. This necessitated modelling of a shallow depth of the experimental sample, enough for analysing a single pass of the beam. The length of the mesh was also restricted by the number of elements adaptable to the modelling time and its stability. Therefore, in the following initial trials, the dimensions of the mesh geometry used in the model were adopted as 300 mm 100 mm 50 mm. A length of 300 mm was selected which allowed analysis of the chip removal mechanism in double-line cutting and of the HAZ configuration in single-line cutting. Singleline cutting was modelled for analysis of the effect of scanning speed while double-line cutting was modelled for analysis of the effect of scanning spacing on the chip removal mechanism. For symmetry, singleline cutting was modelled in the middle of the mesh length (i.e. distance of 150 mm from the mesh edge) and the scanning speed varied. The double-line cutting, on the other hand, was modelled by varying the beam path spacing (i.e. 75, 100, 150, and 200 mm) from the edge of the mesh at a constant scanning speed (i.e. 100 mm/s) to investigate the characteristics of chip formation. The edge of the mesh was considered as the cut in the first laser beam path (see Fig. 1(b)) due to the limitation of the computation domain. The depth of 50 mm, on the other hand, was the optimum to analyse the actual prediction of the ablation depth after a single pass both for the singleand the double-line cutting. The assumptions and strategies in the model included: (a) the laser beam scan direction is linear and perpendicular to the fibre orientation;
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Fig. 2 FE mesh used for analysis

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value of reflectivity. Other properties of the fibres and epoxy used for modelling purpose are reported in Table 1 [5, 15]. Moreover, in order to generate a realistic model, temperature-dependent anisotropic thermal conductivity of the material was used (Table 2). Generally, the thermal conductivity of CFRP decreases as temperature increases [11]. This can be attributed to the carbon fibres, where the phononphonon scattering path, as the dominant conduction mechanism, is inversely proportional to the temperature at medium to high temperatures [16]. On the other hand, being artificial graphite and hence having hexagonal crystalline structure, carbon fibres exhibit a 2D layer structure with anisotropic thermal conductivity [17]. The values applied for the carbon fibres followed the heat flow trends recommended in reference [17], while for the epoxy the trend in reference [18] was used. 3.4 Governing equations and solution strategy A transient thermal problem was solved with thermal loading applied according to the laser pulse shape and number of pulses. The number of pulses incident at each beam spot was calculated according to the scanning speed and pulse length, i.e. 25 ns. The element death methodology (available in ANSYS) was used for simulating the material removal by
120 100 Weight (%) 80 60 40 20 0 273
773K 1155K 593K

ablation. An element with a temperature higher than the decomposition temperature of the resin or fibre was considered to represent material that had been ablated. Such an element was considered to be dead, with insignificant effect in subsequent analysis. The governing equations for the problem have been established [19] as follows. 3.4.1 Time-dependent heat conduction equation under the irradiating surface   @T n; t @ @T n; t r i Ci Ki Qt 1 R; i f; m @t @n @n 1 where r, C, and K are density (kg/m3), specific heat (J/(kg K)), and thermal conductivity (W/(m K)), respectively, and indices f and m refer to fibre and matrix. n is the normal vector, R is the beam reflection, Q is the constantly distributed heat flux (W/m2), and t is time in seconds. 3.4.2 Boundary conditions At the top surface where the laser heat flux is applied and heat losses are considered Ki @T Qt 1 R hT T1 ; @n i f; m 2

All surfaces except the groove side and the top surface are considered adiabatic. Hence, convection
Table 2 Anisotropic temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, K (W/(m K)), of carbon fibre and epoxy resin as used in the model
Carbon fibre [17] Kx 50.00 48.79 46.97 45.45 43.94 39.70 38.48 35.15 33.94 30.91 29.94 27.45 26.52 24.33 23.58 21.73 21.06 19.61 18.35 17.09 15.83 Ky Kz 36.06 35.76 34.55 33.64 32.42 29.18 28.09 25.64 24.73 22.76 22.09 20.42 19.82 18.39 17.85 16.48 16.00 14.93 14.01 13.08 12.16 Epoxy matrix [18] Kx Ky Kz 0.100 0.155 0.148 0.140 0.135 0.130

Temperature (K)

473

673

873

1073

1273

Temperature (K)

Fig. 3 TGA results for the used CFRP in air

Table 1
Property

Properties of the CFRP used for the analysis [5, 15]

Fibre 0.60 1800 50 710 1153 Epoxy 0.40 1200 0.1 1884 698

Volume fraction Density (kg/m3) Thermal conductivity at ambient temperature (W/(m K)) Specific heat (J/(kg K)) Decomposition temperature (K)*

* Decomposition temperature was applied according to the TGA results. Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part B: J. Engineering Manufacture

298 323 350 373 400 473 500 573 600 673 700 773 800 873 900 973 1000 1073 1100 1173 1200

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heat loss on the groove side depending on the interface substrate follows Ki @T hT T1 ; @n @T 0; @n i f; m 3

while the adiabatic surfaces follow Ki i f; m 4

In the above, T, T1, and h denote the cell temperature, ambient temperature, and heat transfer coefficient, respectively. The air convection coefficient and ambient temperature are taken as 50 W/(m2 K) and 293 K, respectively.

4 RESULTS AND VALIDATION Composites 0.3 mm and 1 mm thick were selected to study the effects of scanning speed and scanning space, respectively. Therefore, two FEA simulation cases were studied to understand the effect of speed for single-line cutting (Fig. 1(a)) and the effect of spacing for double-line cutting (Fig. 1(b)), as shown in Table 3. Case I was to study the effect of speed on HAZ, ablation depth, and total number of passes required for a through cut. Case II was to find the effect of spacing in removing the material. In the later case, the speed was kept constant at 100 mm/s, which was selected by experimental trials that provided acceptable thermal damage. Other process parameters (frequency of 40 kHz, pulse width of 25 nm, and laser power of 10 W) were kept constant throughout the analysis. 4.1 Effect of laser scanning speed The effect of laser scanning speed was studied during machining of the 0.3 mm thick composite with multiple scans on a single track (Fig. 1(a)). Figure 4 shows the temperature distribution and the corresponding ablation depth for various speeds of 50, 100, 200, and 800 mm/s. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that a severe HAZ was present in the direction of the fibres. This is
Table 3
Simulation no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Process parameters used for the study

Case Case I Speed (mm/s) 50 100 200 800 100 100 100 100 Scan spacing (mm) N/A N/A N/A N/A 75 100 150 200

Case II

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due to the higher thermal conductivity of the fibres compared with the resin. However, it can be observed from Figs 4(c) and (d) that for higher speeds heat dissipation through the fibres was sufficient to cause decomposition/vaporization of only the adjacent polymer matrix over a short distance beyond the laser-machined region. As illustrated in Figs 4(a) and (b), at scanning speeds of less than 200 mm/s severe thermal damage was predicted (exceeding the mesh geometry). Figure 5(a) illustrates the experimental result at the scanning speed of 50 mm/s, showing high thermal damage to the cut edge. As the scanning speed increased the model predicted less thermal damage (Figs 4(c) and (d)), in line with the experiments (Figs 5(b) and (c)). At 800 mm/s speed although there was a HAZ, it was not sufficient to cause much of the polymer matrix to disintegrate, leading to a shorter fibre pull-out (Fig. 4(d)). This predicted a clean cutting process; i.e. short fibre-pull out at 800 mm/s scanning speed agreed well with the experimental results where for the same process parameters only short fibre pull-out (< 30 mm) was observed (see Fig. 5(c)). The decrease in fibre pull-out with increasing scanning speed is due to a reduction in the interaction time at higher speeds, which results in shorter heating phases thereby reducing the thermal input at each point along the cut path to cause fibre pull-out through heat conduction. Moreover, from Fig. 4, the ablation depth was predicted to decrease with an increase in the scanning speed. This would lead to an increase in the number of passes required for a through cut, which again agreed with the experimental findings [12]. Also seen from Fig. 4 is the irregular length of fibres and irregular temperature profile along the sides of the wall. This is due to the difference in distance that the beam is transmitted between subsequent pulses at each of the scanning speeds, which exhibit individual heating and cooling cycles per beam position. As can be judged, the increase of scanning speed reduced the irregularities. This is a consequence of a reduction in accumulated heat from subsequent pulses as the speed increases and agreed with a similar behaviour observed in the experiments [12]. A comparison of the extent of fibre pull-out predicted by the FE method and the averaged experimental results is shown in Fig. 6. Fibre pull-out is considered as the region in which the temperature exceeds the decomposition temperature of the polymer matrix but remains less than the vaporization temperature of the fibre. As shown in Fig. 6, at the low range of speed, i.e. 50200 mm/s, the model prediction for fibre pull-out exceeded the mesh boundary (shown as the dashed line in the FEA results) and hence the exact prediction of temperature distribution was not achieved. The FEA results showed less
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Beam path

Beam path

(a)

(b)

Beam path Beam path

(c)

(d)

Fig. 4 HAZ profile after one track for various scanning speeds: (a) 50 mm/s; (b) 100 mm/s; (c) 200 mm/s; (d) 800 mm/s

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 5 Scanning electron micrographs showing experimental results at different scanning speeds: (a) 50 mm/s; (b) 200 mm/s; (c) 800 mm/s

deviation from the experimental results as the scanning speed increased. This highlights the difficulties of considering in the model various phenomena that are included in the real-life situation particularly at lower scanning speeds (which show higher heat
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accumulation and e.g. enhance the effect of temperature dependency of the material properties). Figure 7 compares the ablation depth predicted by FEA with the experimental results. In the lower speed range, longer interaction time led to accumulation of
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120 Fibre pull out (m) 90 60 30 0 0 200 400

Experiments FEA simulation

FEA mesh length limit

600

800

Scanning speed (mm/s)

Fig. 6 Predicted HAZ after a single pass compared with experimental results (the dashed line for FEA refers to fibre pull-out exceeding the mesh geometry)

Ablation depth per pass (m)

40 30 20 10 0 0 200 400 600

Experiments FEA simulation

800

Scanning speed (mm/s)

Fig. 7 FEA prediction of ablation depth after a single pass compared with experimental results

heat, which resulted in rapid material removal. On the other hand, in the high speed range the heat input decreased (i.e. number of pulses per beam position) and consequently less thermal distortion and less material removal were found. As can be observed from Fig. 7, in contrast to fibre pull-out analysis (see Fig. 6), the FEA results agreed well with the experimental results. For low scanning speeds the model provided closer predictions to the experimental results, while at higher speeds, i.e. 200800 mm/s, the simulated result diverged slightly from the experiments. 4.2 Effect of spacing between laser scans As discussed in section 2, for cutting thick samples a multiple tracks strategy with appropriate spacing between consecutive passes was considered to enable effective material removal and minimize the
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thermal effect on the samples. As shown in Fig. 1(b), during the first laser track the composite was machined to some depth, and the next track was performed with some spacing from the first track. During the second track the composite was machined to some depth; at the same time the resin between the two tracks was fully decomposed and ultimately the chip produced between the two tracks (although the fibre was not fully decomposed) was removed. This spacing between the two laser tracks has a significant effect on the MRR and the number of passes required for machining. It is important to understand the effect of spacing on chip formation and also to predict the optimal spacing which will decompose the resin between the two laser tracks with less thermal damage. In this study, the scanning speed was considered as 100 mm/s, as in the experiments, and four different spacing parameters (75, 100, 150, and 200 mm) were considered. The distance was considered from the groove side, which was assumed to have been formed in the previous laser track. Figure 8 shows the FEA results of laser machining for various values of spacing distance from the groove side. It can be seen from Fig. 8 that a higher temperature was predicted along the groove side than at the block side for distances less than 150 mm. This is due to better heat dissipation through the block side to the parent material by conduction and comparatively less heat transfer from the groove side to the atmosphere by convection. As depicted in Fig. 8, the length of the fibre chips on the groove side increased with spacing and reached an optimum at 150 mm spacing. Decomposition of resin on the groove side did not occur when the spacing distance increased to 200 mm (Fig. 8(d)) and the formation of fibre chips was not predicted between consecutive laser tracks. A comparison of FEA and experimental results on the ablation depth through chip formation at different scanning spaces is given in Fig. 9. Here, although the FEA results underestimated the ablation depth, it showed the same trend as the experiments. This proves the capability of FE modelling to incorporate similar predictions of the experimental situation in double-line processing.

5 DISCUSSION The present modelling simulates laser machining of composites by incorporating realistic mesh geometry, an advanced numerical procedure for establishing the material removal process, and anisotropic thermal conductivity. During the numerical simulation the material removal process is updated at the end of every time step according to the TGA diagram discussed in section 3.3. Compared with previous
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Fig. 8 Predicted material removal for various values of spacing distance: (a) 75 mm; (b) 100 mm; (c) 150 mm; (d) 200 mm

50 A b l a t i o n d e p t h ( m )
Experiments

40 30 20 10 0 70 90 110

FEA simulation

130

150

Scanning spacing distance (m)

Fig. 9 FEA predicted and experimental ablation depth at different scanning spaces in double-line cutting

numerical models this simulation addresses the actual situation in the machining process. In previous FE models the material removal was usually simplified or not included. To the authors knowledge this study is the first to show the realistic ablation profile in composite machining by a laser. The mesh used in the present model consists of separate fibres and resin. It is more realistic compared with previous approaches and it reflects the shape and size of actual composites, while previous models usually considered a simple uniform mesh
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with anisotropic material properties which do not represent the reality. This complex mesh consecutively increased the number of elements to 392 475, which forced the model to be limited to a small portion of the actual machining condition. Although the model does not reflect the whole domain, the FEA results provide a fairly good insight into the phenomena of composite machining, giving results close to the experimental ones. The thermal conduction of CFRP is anisotropic and depends on various factors such as the fibre direction, its geometry, and volume fraction [20] (composites being heterogeneous), while it exhibits high dependency on temperature and decreases significantly at elevated temperatures (typically above 773 K). Although anisotropic thermal conductivity has been considered previously [10], experimental verification of such consideration, incorporating its temperature dependency in FEA simulations, has not been reported for laser machining of composites. In order to simulate the real-life situation, the current analysis considers anisotropic thermal conductivity by incorporating its variation with temperature. Such a consideration enables the model to consider the fibrematrix interface role during the thermal process. Using the FE method, provision of reliable thermal predictions during laser processing of composite materials depends on various factors. Among these is the accurate modelling of heat propagation into the
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material, which requires the adoption of an accurate modelling strategy that recognizes the complexities relating to thermal damage to these materials. Thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity play important roles in the propagation of heat within a material. As shown in Fig. 4, the FE model predicts that fibres rapidly conduct heat away, leaving a larger HAZ as compared with the extent of fibre pull-out. This enables sufficient heat for decomposition of the surrounding matrix to some extent, which is proportional to the interaction time. It also shows that for a given laser power the model predicts the morphology of the laser-machined sample to be strongly influenced by the scanning speed. In particular it has been found that, at low velocities, the samples are characterized by fibres leaning out of the matrix surrounded by a large HAZ with loss of material. As the cutting velocity increases, this structure tends to disappear. The increase in speed also reduces the kerf width and thermal damage to the composite due to the aforementioned reason. The complex structure and composition of composites makes it difficult to find or calculate their material properties. This is one of the reasons for the deviation in experimental and FEA modelling results. As shown in Fig. 6, the model predicts a reduction in the fibre pull-out as the speed increases. The computational time and stability restricted the mesh geometry input which would provide the real fibre pull-out predictions in the low speed range, i.e. 50200 mm/s, of the model. The overestimation suggests that a more complicated formulation of the process as well as the material properties is required for more accurate modelling. The ablation depth is also overestimated in the FEA model as compared with the experiments (Fig. 7). However, it shows close agreement with the trend of the experimental results, which implies the capabilities of FEA modelling in the field. The ablation depth shows high sensitivity to the scanning speed over the lower ranges of speed (50200 mm/s) while smoother results are obtained for the higher speed ranges (200800 mm/s). The process of chip formation, which is the main factor involved in double-line laser machining of thick composites, is predicted in the FE model, as illustrated in Fig. 8. As can be seen from Fig. 1(b), the double-line processing would in an ideal situation lead to control of the HAZ and effectively use the HAZ to dissociate the matrix molecules and remove the intact fibre chips in between the processing tracks. The model predicts fibre chip formation for all spacings less than or equal to 150 mm. In other words, a maximum of spacing of 150 mm is required between two consecutive laser tracks to decompose the resin between them and consecutively remove the fibre chip. This coincides with the experimental finding of a spacing of three to five times the beam spot diaJEM1662

meter (in the range of 150 mm) being required for effective chip formation in multiple track processing [12]. Moreover, as the spacing decreases below 150 mm, the model predicts more severe thermal damage to the material (Figs 8(a) and (b)). This refers to the undesired heat accumulation between the processing lines due to insufficient space for heat dissipation into the material and causing severe damage, particularly in 75 mm spacing (Fig. 8(a)), where no chip formation is predicted. All the material between the two tracks in this case, i.e. 75 mm spacing, is predicted to be vaporized in agreement with the experiments. As a notable feature of the model, the length of the fibre chips is predicted to increase in proportion to the scan spacing up to 150 mm, above which the materials (fibre and resin) between consecutive laser passes are not removed and subsequently laser machining by the chip removal mechanism fails (Fig. 8(d)). An advantageous feature of the model is successful prediction of fibre pull-out, i.e. intact fibres with decomposed matrix. Figure 10 compares typical fibre pull-out in the experiments (for the purpose of clarity, the surface after a through cut is depicted) and the FEA modelling result at similar processing parameters. This capability enables the model to effectively predict the chip removal mechanism in double-line processing. For 150 mm as the optimum distance, the typical length of fibre chips in the experiments is about 100 mm. This represents the trend of the modelling results, where the predicted length of fibre chips exceeds the mesh geometry as shown in Fig. 8(c). A comparison of a typical chip formed during the experiments at 150 mm spacing distance and the FEA modelling result of the similar case is given in Fig. 11. The model is capable of predicting more effective material removal in the double-line processing case. As is shown in Fig. 9, the ablation depth variation is predicted with similar trend and in reasonably close agreement to the experiments. The uncertainty of the results can be attributed to factors such as vapour formation, vapourbeam interaction, and beam scattering inside the groove that were not considered in the FEA model. Generally the FEA is capable of predicting similar trends to the experimental result for both single-line and double-line cutting. Despite all attempts to simulate the material as close to the real-life situation as possible, the simulation overestimates the fibre pull-out while underestimating the ablation depth. Although the difference between the model and the experiments for ablation depth in single-line cutting is small (Fig. 7), for the double-line cutting the difference is larger (Fig. 9). The wide differences both in the length of fibre pull-out and the ablation depth
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R Negarestani, M Sundar, M A Sheikh, P Mativenga, L Li, Z L Li, P L Chu, C C Khin, H Y Zheng, and G C Lim

(a)

(b)

Fig. 10 (a) Effective modelling of fibre pull-out in the FEA compared with (b) the surface morphology of the experimental result at a scanning speed of 50 mm/s

(a)

(b)

Fig. 11 (a) FEA predicted chip formation compared with (b) typical chip formed in the experiments at 150 mm scan spacing in double-line processing

reflect the complexities involved in modelling a mesh that can fully satisfy the specifications of a composite structure. Ignoring other phenomena in the model, such as laser beam interaction with the plume and beam absorption by the groove wall, also contributes to the wide difference between the experimental results and the FE simulations.

6 CONCLUSIONS A 3D FE model of heat flow and material removal during ultraviolet laser machining of CFRP composites has been developed using more a realistic formulation of the process conditions and material properties. Temperature distribution and ablation depth at different laser beam scanning speeds and spacing distance have been predicted. The results of FEA simulations showed similar qualitative and physical agreement with the experiments. HAZ and
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ablation depth were predicted to be more sensitive to speeds in the lower range of 50200 mm/s as compared with the higher range of 200800 mm/s. Particular phenomena involved in the experiments such as burning at low scanning speeds (50 mm/s), fibre pull-out, chip formation, and clean cuts at the high scanning speeds (800 mm/s) were successfully predicted in the FEA model. The study revealed the feasibility of applying FEA modelling for simple (single-line cutting) and more complicated (doubleline cutting) machining of CFRP composites using heterogeneous meshing, in particular at scanning speeds higher than 200 mm/s. For the double-line processing, the FEA model predicted an optimal spacing of 150 mm between the two tracks which closely matches the experimental results. The FEA findings showed better quality machining at the high scanning speeds and for the double-line processing case, where fibre pull-out was less important compared with that in the single-line processing.
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Numerical simulation of laser machining of carbon-fibre-reinforced composites

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Discussion of the results of the fibre pull-out and matrix recession show the importance of including the fibrematrix interface features in similar models. The other factors that should be considered for the accuracy of the model include vapour formation, materialvapour interaction (its role on heat input calibration), beam absorption at the groove wall, as well as polymer matrix decomposition and fibre vaporization temperatures, mechanisms that are not fully understood at extremely high heating rate of laser machining.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the support offered by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) of Singapore and the joint support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), UK under the ELMACT grant DT/E010512/1. Authors 2010 REFERENCES
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