Experimental investigation and numerical simulation on continuous wave laser ablation of multilayer carbon fiber composite

Laser beam machining is one of the most widely used advanced processing techniques, which can be applied to compound materials. As a large number of photons are absorbed into the composite, the subsequent local heat storage, charring and potential delamination make the study for the effect of laser on complex materials become significant. In this paper, a carbon fiber epoxy composite laminated sheet is irradiated by continuous wave chemical oxygen iodine laser. The peak temperature of front surface, the temperature distribution of rear surface, and the appearance of ablation zone are presented. Further, based on the birth–death elements technique of finite element method, a three-dimensional model for simulating the transient temperature distribution and material removal has been developed under the same condition. The results reveal that the peak temperature of irradiated region ranges from 2800 K to 3100 K, and the center point shows a higher temperature rise rate than the surroundings in the irradiated zone. The measured data and predicted data are in a good consistency, which suggests that the numerical model is appropriate for simulating laser ablation of carbon fiber epoxy composites.