Temperature history for cutting of ceramics preheated by a CO2 laser

Temperature history for cutting of ceramics preheated by a CO2 laser is analytically investigated in this study. During the cutting of ceramics the laser is utilized to maintain the workpiece at a specified range of temperature, where the yield strength of ceramics can be reduced below the fracture strength, changing the material deformation behavior from brittle to ductile and enabling the use of a single point cutting tool to remove material at rates approaching those of metal cutting. Therefore accurate temperature analysis is needed to obtain high efficiency and quality of cutting of ceramics. Assuming the system to be two-dimensional for sufficiently high velocity of rotation (RPM) and the heat flux generated by cutting to be negligible in the process of cutting ceramics, the thermal model accounting for temperature history is developed. The results calculated by this model agree with the experimental data. The effects of feed rate and laser power on temperature history are discussed in this study.