Application of iterative path revision technique for laser cutting with controlled fracture

Laser cutting using the controlled fracture technique has great potential to be employed for the ceramic substrate machining. The heat produced on the surface of a ceramic substrate by the laser separates the substrate controllably along the moving path of the laser beam. Because the extension of the breaking frontier is lager than the movement of the laser spot, the actual fracture trajectory deviates from the desired trajectory when cutting a curve or cutting an asymmetrical straight line. To eliminate this deviation, the iterative learning control method is introduced to obtain the optimal laser beam movement path. The fracture contour image is grabbed by a CCD camera after laser cutting completion. A new image processing system is proposed to detect the deviation between the desired cutting path and the actual fracture trajectory. The laser-movement path for the next trial can then be determined according to the iterative path revision algorithm. The actual fracture trajectory converging to the desired cutting path is assured after a few path revisions. The experimental materials used in these experiments are alumina ceramics and the laser source is CO2 laser. The proposed system can achieve a machining precision of about 0.1 mm. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.