Studies on the use of offset and angled prescores for fracture control during laser

machining of alumina ceramics

A. E. Segall, G. Cai, and R. Akarapu

Citation: Journal of Laser Applications 18, 325 (2006); doi: 10.2351/1.2355527

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.2351/1.2355527
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 JOURNAL OF LASER APPLICATIONS VOLUME 18, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

Studies on the use of offset and angled prescores for fracture control
during laser machining of alumina ceramics
A. E. Segall,a兲 G. Cai, and R. Akarapu
Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
16802
共Received 17 October 2005; accepted for publication 27 June 2006兲
While lasers offer many advantages when machining ceramics, micro- to macroscale damage often
culminating in premature fractures is a shortcoming that cannot be ignored by manufacturers,
especially during higher-speed machining where supports are not practical. As detailed in earlier
studies, such macroscale fractures can be controlled by simultaneously scoring and cutting. Indeed,
by using a lower-power beam to simultaneously create a shallow groove or prescore directly ahead
of the higher-power cutting beam, the final fracture path can be dictated, even under exaggerated
mixed-mode conditions. In this study, the practice of prescoring was extended to include both offset
and angled prescores to investigate possible improvements, as well as potential problems associated
with poor alignment of the beams. Results indicate that offset beams away from the unsupported end
can delay fracture slightly, while offsets toward the free-edge can results in crack bridging and a
slightly accelerated fracture. On the other hand, angled prescore tests indicate no real advantages to
the practice in part, because material redistribution within the recast layer tends to eliminate the
angle. Based on the results of this study, it appears that while precise beam alignment 共both angle
and offset兲 is recommended for the highest quality cuts, offsets up to 50% of the beam diameter and
slight angles up to 9° off the surface can still work. © 2006 Laser Institute of America.

I. INTRODUCTION operation involving high temperatures such as laser machin-

ing, there is also the potential for unseen structural
While ceramics certainly offer many advantages over
damage5–7 from microcracks that may lead to costly failures
traditional alloys, especially for high temperature and wear
down the road.
situations, one of their major drawbacks is related to shaping
Given the importance of the problem, many analytical
and machining. Not surprisingly, the use of lasers is therefore
and experimental studies have been undertaken to develop
increasing as industry seeks to take advantage of their low
crack-free laser machining methods including the use of frac-
force signature, high precision, and control.1–4 Nevertheless,
ture criterion based on the maximum tensile and compressive
the use of lasers does not always preclude damage and/or
stresses,8 as well as parametric studies of cutting speed, laser
fracture, especially for many high-speed manufacturing situ-
power, and workpiece thickness during continuous wave
ations where “nail-bed” arrangements are not always practi-
共cw兲 CO2 laser cutting.9 Other studies focused on a technique
cal and the ceramic can only be partially supported. In these
where the separation 共controlled-fracture兲 of brittle materials
situations, relatively large chips and cracks can still develop,
was driven by stresses;10,11 in this technique, a temperature
even though there are no applied mechanical forces.
gradient through the thickness of the part caused by a mov-
For unsupported cutting, premature fractures inevitably
ing cw laser source was used to induce fracture and separa-
occur when the weight of the scrap is too great for the re-
tion along a desired path. Unfortunately, the method was
maining section to support. Although a complex phenom-
limited to relatively simple geometries and/or components
enon, most premature fractures can ultimately be attributed
where rough surfaces could be tolerated. Other methods now
to the tensile stresses caused by a deleterious combination of
widely adopted by industry include the use of pulsed lasers12
scrap weight including dross buildup, forces from cooling
to scribe a line from which the brittle material could be sepa-
gases, and the always threatening thermal stresses in the vi-
rated. However, the scribing was done independently and
cinity of the cut. Separation burrs and chips result from the
secondary operations were often necessary to separate and
subsequent mixed-mode crack growth that occurs through
finish the parts.
the compressively stressed underside and/or from the twist-
In terms of minimizing the thermal component of frac-
ing of the scrap as the yet uncut 共supporting兲 section dimin-
ture, short-pulsed lasers appear promising since most of the
ishes with the progression of the laser. The nature and ulti-
energy is used to instantaneously vaporize material from the
mate costs of separation burrs and chips will vary depending
surface so that thermal and stress gradients do not fully
on a number of factors that include the size and shape of the
develop.12,13 In other related studies,14,15 a crack-free cut was
artifact, laser path, thickness, material, the proximity of other
realized by using a mechanical chopper, Q-switched pulse
laser cuts, and various laser process parameters. With any
CO2 laser operating at a high peak power 共15 kW+ 兲, short
pulse durations 共1 ␮s兲, high pulse repetition rates 共20 kHz兲,
a兲
Electronic mail: aesegall@psu.edu and an average power 300 W. Other researchers16 have ob-

1042-346X/2006/18共4兲/325/5/$23.00 325 © 2006 Laser Institute of America

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 326 J. Laser Appl., Vol. 18, No. 4, November 2006 Segall, Cai, and Akarapu

FIG. 2. Customized dual-beam delivery system with independent prescore

power control.
FIG. 1. Cutaway view 共a兲 showing the prescoring process and 共b兲 scanning
electron microscopy image of a typical Al2O3 groove with recast layer and
arrows highlighting microcracks.
midrange of the laser, the circularly polarized incident-beam
originally at a fourfold greater level than required was first
tained similar results that also showed that the tendency for split with 50% of the power dumped. The remaining 50%
cracking in ceramics during laser machining is strongly de- was then split with half going directly to a focusing lens and
pendent on the pulse duration; shorter pulse duration at the the main cutting beam. Any remaining power of the beam
same incident energy level reduced the number and the size was then passed through a Brewster’s attenuator that allowed
of the cracks formed during the machining of ceramics. additional control of the beam depending on the angle of
To help avoid/control premature fractures during unsup- rotation. For the cutting and all prescoring experiments, the
ported laser machining, a new dual-beam approach has been average power levels were measured and the system cali-
recently developed;17–20 this method used a lower power brated using a digital system with the beam power levels
CO2 beam to simultaneously score the surface ahead of the found to be in excellent agreement with predicted output
cutting laser in order dictate the path of the crack once frac- levels. Although designed to allow control of the remaining
ture ensued. By preordaining the fracture path as conceptu- power from 0 % – 100%, the Brewster’s attenuator was found
ally and experimentally shown in Fig. 1, the prescore process to operate in the ⬃8 % – 90% range of the incident power
was able to improve surface quality by controlling the levels during calibration. For all cutting and prescoring op-
mixed-mode fractures that often plagues unsupported cut- erations, a 345 kPa 共50 psi兲 air jet was used to control the
ting; increasingly deeper prescore grooves were also shown ablated material and keep the optics clean. Typical param-
to completely eliminate chips and produced higher quality eters and properties are listed in Table I.
cuts. Figure 3 illustrates the basic experimental setup with a
While the prescoring studies indicated that the new prac- cantilevered plate, added weight, and dual-beam arrange-
tice can indeed control fracture and improve cut quality, it ment shown in an offset mode. During all experiments, a
was limited to beams that were precisely aligned in the di- digital micrometer was used to control the degree of offset of
rection of the cut. As such, no date is available on any po- the prescore relative to the cutting groove. For the current
tential advantages or disadvantages of offsetting the two series of tests, three principal alignments 关centered, right of
beams during the cutting process. Moreover, the affects of center 共towards weight兲, and left of center 共away from
angling the prescore relative to the surface and the ensuing
fracture propagation were not studied. Because of the pos-
sible improvements to the practice of prescoring by virtue of TABLE I. Parameters and some typical materials properties of the AD-96
Alumina under study.
preferential fracturing and/or the development of strict
guidelines 共including procedures to strictly avoid兲, new stud- Thermal conductivity 10.04 W / mK
ies were undertaken. This article details the results and helps Specific heat 1338.9 J / kg K
to develop guidelines for the efficient usage of the prescoring Density 3900 kg/ m3
process. Heat of removal 1025 kJ/ Kg
Absorptivity factor 0.99
Melting point 2025 K
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Young’s modulus 3.72 GPa
As discussed in the introduction, the ultimate objective Poison’s ratio 0.19
of this research was to control premature fractures during the Coefficient of thermal expansion 6.8E-08 K−1
cutting of unsupported ceramics by using an intentionally Laser power for single pulsed laser cutting 12– 30 W
Laser frequency 200 Hz
共and simultaneously兲 scored line ahead of the cutting laser.
Beam diameter 0.25 mm
With this goal in-mind, the research initially focused on us-
Distance between beams 共dual beam simulations兲 0.5– 12.7 mm
ing the controllable split-laser system 共500 W average, Power for cutting laser 23 W
1.5 kW peak CO2 in pulsed mode兲 shown in Fig. 2 for frac- Power of lead 共scoring兲 laser 0 – 6.5 W
ture and damage control. To ensure operation in the
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 J. Laser Appl., Vol. 18, No. 4, November 2006
FIG. 3. Experimental setup showing cantilevered beam, offset beams, and
corner weight to induce mixed-mode fracture during dual-beam machining.
weight兲兴 were used as shown by the alumina samples in Fig.
4. Angled prescores shown in Fig. 5 were always done using
a central alignment by means of an angled fixture since the
beam orientations were fixed. However, given the normal
and fixed angle of the beams relative to the alumina surface,
all tests involving angled prescores required two separate
operations. For all other prescore experiments, the spacing
between the lead 共prescoring兲 and trailing 共cutting兲 beam was
fixed at half of the plate width or 12.7 mm ahead of the main
cutting laser to ensure that the prescore would be completed
before the cutting beam reached the midpoint of the plate. In
addition, a 139 g 共0.31 lb兲 weight was place on the leading
corner of the plate to ensure that the plate would fracture at
approximately 80% of the cut length. While the added
weight also shown in Fig. 3 was primarily used to accelerate
fracture and thereby minimize the influence of edge effects at
the start of fracture, the resultant force was also designed to
induce mode mixity. Bending and twisting moments of
FIG. 4. 共a兲 Central, 共b兲 right, and 共c兲 left of center prescoring alignments.
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Segall, Cai, and Akarapu 327
FIG. 5. Illustration of the angled prescore relative to the fixity and weight
added to exaggerate the mixed-mode loading typical of unsupported cutting
and a typical groove for a 9° angle 关orientation 共c兲兴.
3.46E-2 N m 共0.306 in. lb兲 and 3.9E-2 N m 共0.346 in. lb兲,
respectively, were induced by the 139 g weight to better
simulate unsupported laser machining where both bending
and twisting moments are common. Finally, at least 20
samples were used for each test series to adequately capture
the typically stochastic nature of fracture in the AD-96 Alu-
mina 共Coors Ceramics兲 under study.
III. RESULTS
As demonstrated in earlier research,16 the results of the
centered prescore tests indicated a clear advantage of the
process in terms of fracture direction and cut quality; fracture
tended to occur sooner as the prescore depth was increased
since the supporting section was inherently diminished by
the groove. For the current tests, Figs. 6 and 7 show new
FIG. 6. Weibull comparison of fracture length for centered, left and right
beam alignments and a groove depth of approximately 58.5 ␮m.
 328 J. Laser Appl., Vol. 18, No. 4, November 2006 Segall, Cai, and Akarapu

FIG. 7. Weibull comparison of fracture length for centered, left, and right
beam alignments and a groove depth of approximately 98.7 ␮m.

results in Weibull form using left- and right-of-center beam

alignments 共representing 50% of the beam diameter兲 for two
groove depths. As with the central alignment, the introduc-
tion of the prescore eliminated the large mixed-mode chips
that always occurred with a standard, single-beam cut. In
fact, fracture initiated slightly earlier for the right and left
alignments relative to the central orientation as shown by the
figures; close-ups of typical fractures are shown in Fig. 8 for
the three alignments studied. However, there appears to be
little significant difference between the results for left or
right offsets of 50%. One possible explanation is that the
unique cross sections created by the offset alignments have
resulted in higher stress concentrations relative to the cen-
tered prescore. In addition, the slightly greater bending mo-
ment and stresses in the fracture zone experienced after a
right alignment would certainly increase the likelihood of
fracture relative to the other alignments. As with any of the
alignments studied, deeper grooves resulted in a reduced
cross section and also caused larger microcracks that would
have accelerated fracture regardless of the orientation. Under
this scenario, the variability would also be expected increase
as evidenced by the reduced slope of the fracture curves.
Studies were also conducted to see the effects of using
an angled prescore with grooves oriented at 1.2°, 5°, and 9°
relative to the surface as shown in Fig. 9. These figures show
how the increasing asymmetry with angle, as well as a less-
ening of the recast layer thickness, and the correspondingly
deeper groove all influenced the propensity and variability of
fracture; this is consistent with earlier observations and is
attributed to the fact that the shallower recast layers induce
less severe flaw populations and variability. Moreover, the
time/location of fracture decreases with an increase of the
prescore angle; this is most likely due to the fact that the
greater angle, the more severe the reduction in cross-section.
As already shown by the inset of Fig. 5, the recast layer
tended to redistribute itself under the effects of gravity, thus
reducing the influence of the angled process to some extent.
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FIG. 8. Typical fractures resulting from 共a兲 central, 共b兲 right, 共c兲 left of
center prescoring alignments, and 共d兲 crack-bridging between the prescore
and cut.
The results of the offset prescore tests indicated two im-
portant points for the practice and manufacturing. First, the
use of an offset does not offer any clear advantage in terms
of the time or quality of the final fracture as originally hoped.
Fortunately, the “silver lining” is that the positive influence
of the prescore survives, even when the beams are mis-
aligned. Considering the difficulties in maintaining exact
alignment during a high-paced manufacturing process due to
vibration, shifting, etc., the results of this study indicate that
there is some room for error. Similar logic prevails with the
results of the angled prescores. As with the offset grooves,
the addition of an angle seems to have a minimal effect at
best. However, this may be more of an artifact of the process
and the redistribution of the recast layer that minimized any
changes to the groove geometry; a preferentially oriented
air-jet may help maintain the angle of the groove and thus,
influence the final fracture. In either case, the positive as-
pects of the prescore process have been reinforced in that
mixed-mode fractures can be readily eliminated by the use of
a simultaneous prescore, even when the beams may be out of
alignment with each other and/or the surface.
 J. Laser Appl., Vol. 18, No. 4, November 2006
FIG. 9. Weibull comparison of fracture length as a function of angle for a
centered alignment.
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
A unique dual-beam CO2 system was used to simulta-
neously prescore and cut alumina plates; when used in this
fashion to create a relatively shallow prescore ahead of the
cut at various orientations and alignments, the mixed-mode
fracture and resulting chips common in unsupported ceram-
ics were eliminated. While offset or angled prescores did not
improve the quality of the cut in any significant way, the
method also appears to be relatively insensitive to the align-
ment of the grooves up to 50% of the diameter or centered
with angles up to 9° or less. Hence, it can be applied to a
rapid manufacturing environment even if some positioning
drift is to be expected. The thermal shock and subsequent
formation of a resolidified layer appears to have induced a
more severe and varied flaw population that influenced the
likelihood of fracture as the cut is completed. Clearly, dual-
beam laser machining has demonstrated the potential to con-
trol troublesome and costly premature fractures and the re-
sulting damage in alumina ceramics.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to acknowledge that the material
presented in this article is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-0093903
and the Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FC07-
01ID14189. The authors would also like to thank PM Indus-
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Segall, Cai, and Akarapu 329
tries 共Portland, OR兲 including Jim Moorehead for their assis-
tance that included the donating a 150 W CO2 laser used in
preliminary studies. Finally, the considerable help of John
McConnell in designing and fabricating various fixtures is
gratefully acknowledged.
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