CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) is a composite material formed using carbon fibers and epoxy resin matrices. It has low productivity and suffers from machining defects during precision machining. Laser machining of CFRP is associated with the problem of heat damage to the epoxy resin. EDM of CFRP can process various shapes with a shaped tool, however it has a lower material removal rate compared to laser, and the non-conductive epoxy resin layer on the surface must be removed before EDM processing. In this study, we have proposed a laser EDM hybrid machining in which CFRP was pre-processed with a laser and then post-processed by EDM. The laser pre-processing conditions were selected by adjusting the laser power and the number of repetitions to minimize thermal damage. According to EDM conditions, the size of the thermal damage area occurring in the epoxy resin, the change in the side gap, and the change in the processing time were investigated. Using the hybrid processing, micro-holes with a diameter of 150 μm were machined, and square-shaped micro-holes were also machined. To improve productivity, a multi-tool capable of processing four square shapes was manufactured, and multi-processing was performed.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Fabrication of micro holes with confined pitting corrosion by laser and electrochemical machining: Pitting corrosion formation mechanisms and protection method Jian Yang, Yufeng Wang, Yong Yang, Yunfeng Liu, Wenwu Zhang Journal of Materials Processing Technology.2025; 335: 118677. CrossRef
Laser Drilling of Micro-Hole Array on CFRP Using Nanosecond Pulsed Fiber Laser Do Kwan Chung Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers.2024; 23(5): 92. CrossRef