Heat input

Heat input describes the amount of heat that is transported into top surface of work piece to attain good quality laser cutting. Heat input can be expressed as heat input per cut length (J m^-1) or heat input per mass of evaporated paper material (J g^-1). Heat input per cut length can be calculated as equation 10.1 shows (Lukkari, 1998; Malmberg et al., 2006).

v P

Q  (10.1)

where Q heat input, J m^-1

P laser power needed for successful cutting, W v cutting speed, m s^-1.

This value describes how much energy (in joules) is needed to cut 1 m of material. It has to be noted that sample thickness or cut kerf width is not included in this value (Lukkari, 1998;

Malmberg et al., 2006).

Heat input per mass of evaporated material can be calculated as equation 10.2 represents (Malmberg et al., 2006).

v A ρ P

Q  (10.2)

where A cross-sectional area of cut kerf, A ρ density of paper material, g m^-3. 10.2 Fluence

Fluence is defined as units of energy that intersect a unit area. In particular, it is used to describe the strength of a radiation field, in which case the unit used is J m^-2. It can be calculated as equation 10.3 shows (Bäuerle, 2000).

dA

In laser technology, fluence is calculated as equation 44 shows (Archer et al., 2005).

Fluence (J m^-2) = laser pulse energy (J) / focal point area (m²) (44) 11 Effect of fluence in laser interaction with paper material

11.1 XeCl excimer laser (308 nm) and 2^nd harmonic Nd:YAG (532 nm)

Kolar, Strlic et al. (Kolar et al., 2000) carried out a study of XeCl excimer laser (308 nm) and Nd:YAG (532 nm) laser interaction with paper. Purpose of study was to develop a contact-free method of cleaning papers like historical documents. The objective of research was to detect the effects of two different lasers on paper.

Paper samples used were purified cotton linters cellulose (Whatman filter paper) or bleached sulphate pulp. One side of the sample was treated with excimer pulse laser with wavelength 308 nm (fluences 0.28, 0.58 and 0.86 J cm^-2) and Nd:YAG pulsed with wavelength of 532 nm (fluences 0.58 and 0.86 J cm^-2). All tests were performed at Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Berlin, Germany. The treatment of paper with the excimer laser (308 nm) causes an immediate severe depolymerisation of cellulose (figure 11.1) and the damage increases with increase of fluence (Kolar et al., 2000).

Excessive degradation of paper during the laser treatment with the excimer laser is probably caused by the high energy of the incoming light. The Grotthus-Draper law (see appendix 4) states that only radiation that is absorbed by material may cause chemical change. The energy supplied by the absorbed photon excites the electronic structure of a molecule. Relaxation of molecule is produced by emission of heat or light (fluorescence or phosphorescence), by breaking of chemical bonds (photolysis), by undergoing a chemical change within the molecule or by transfer of energy to another atom or molecule (Kolar et al., 2000).

Figure 11.1. Effect of excimer (308 nm) and Nd:YAG (532 nm) laser treatments, when different values of fluences were used, on DP (degree of polymerisation) of Whatman cellulose. The error bar represents standard deviation, s (n-5) (Kolar et al., 2000).

While relaxation of an excited bond to its ground state by emission of heat or light does not induce a chemical change in the material, the later three modes of relaxation are considered as photochemical processes and may result in deterioration of the substrate. From figure 11.2 can be

observed that cellulose scatters most of the light throughout the visible spectrum, while the absorption increases in the UV region (Kolar et al., 2000).

Figure 11.2. Diffuse reflectance R spectrum of bleached sulphate pulp (Kolar et al., 2000).

As the energy of a photon at 308 nm is higher than the energy of a C–C or C–O bond (table 11.1), photolysis may occur as a result of photon absorption, which causes decrease of DP (degree of polymerisation) (Kolar et al., 2000).

Table 11.1 Typical energies of covalent bonds and the corresponding wavelengths (Kolar et al., 2000).

Bond Energy, kJ mol^-1 Wavelength, nm

C-C 347 347

C-O 359 333

C-H 414 289

However, it is more likely that the absorption of a near UV photon results in excitation of electrons in a chemical bond. It is likely that a visible-spectrum-wavelength laser would cause less damage to cellulosic materials, as their absorption of light in this wavelength region is minimal. It is important to note that although a material does not appear to absorb any light, it is still possible for a chemical change to take place (Kolar et al., 2000). As shown in figure 11.1, no degradation of cellulose molecule was noticed, when frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser radiation was used (532 nm) (Kolar et al., 2000).

11.2 Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm)

Pérez, Barrera and Díez (Pérez et al., 2003) have studied laser treatment of paper materials with Nd:YAG laser with wavelength 1064 nm. Their purpose was to be able to clean and preserve historical documents with help of laser beam.

In their study three different paper samples were chosen: rag paper (16th century) and mechanical wood pulp paper (20th century). Rag paper is made of cotton celluloseso this is not same cellulose as in wood. The only additives it has are the vegetal or animal glue sizing and mineral fillers (gypsum, chalk or kaolin). Besides cellulose, mechanical wood pulp paper contains hemicellulose, lignin, resins, peptines, chlorinated agents and ozone, etc. (Pérez et al., 2003).

The experimental study was carried out by using an Nd:YAG laser that produces laser beam with wavelength of 1064 nm, frequency of 20 Hz, pulse duration of 6 ns and maximum output power of 420 mJ. The study was carried out using a convergent beam and collimated beam. When convergent beam was used, fluence values were varying from 276 mJ cm^-2 to 466 mJ cm^-2. Correspondingly fluence values from 19 mJ cm^-2 to 369 mJ cm^-2 were used with collimated beam (Pérez et al., 2003).

11.2.1 Rag paper

Using a convergent beam, a carbonisation and breaking of the fibres was observed. With the collimated beam, no carbonisation of fibres was observed in any of the fibres at low- and middle-range fluencies (19–111 mJ cm^-2) (Pérez et al., 2003).

In the sample directly exposed to the laser radiation working with a collimated beam, the appearance of a peak belonging to the ester group (wavelength 5.8 µm; wavenumber 1730 cm^–1) was observed. The crystallinity index decreases, when the fluency is increased. There is also a slight increase of some of the peaks around wavelength 9.1 µm (wavenumber 1100 cm^–1) in consonance with a slight increase in the amorphous area (see figure 11.3). There seems to be no variation in the crystallinity index with the convergent beam and there is no oxidation peak (Pérez et al., 2003).

11.2.2 Mechanical wood pulp paper

The FTIR spectroscopy offers some slightly different spectra than for rag paper. Cellulose content is less, thus increasing hemicellulose and lignin content. The most interesting functional groups are aromatic ring peaks at wavelength 6.6 µm (wavenumber 510 cm^-1) and wavelength 6.3 µm (wavenumber 1600 cm^-1) and wavelength 6.8 µm (wavenumber range of 1460 cm^-1-1470 cm^-1) for lignin. The hemicellulose shows a peak at wavelength 12.3 µm (wavenumber 815 cm^-1) band. The split peak at wavelength range of 3.4-3.5 µm (wavenumber range of 2852–2910 cm^-1) is due to the presence of the aldehyde group and the peak without the split indicates a vibration in the C–H group. The results with paper samples show a slight hydrolysis (double peak around wavelength 3.4 µm; wavenumber 2900 cm^-1) and oxidation (peak at wavelength 5.8 µm; wavenumber 1710 cm^-1).

There is another peak at wavelength 5.8 µm (wavenumber 1718 cm^-1) due to the presence of an acid as a charge (filler) (Pérez et al., 2003).

Figure 11.3. Rag paper showing oxidation peaks after laser treatment with collimated Nd:YAG laser beam (Pérez et al., 2003).

12 Energy balance models of interaction of paper materials and laser beam

If paper material is supposed to degrade at temperature Td, the radial profile of laser beam is assumed to be uniform over a disk of radius R, as Archer et al. noted in their study (Archer et al., 2005) Deposition of heat within the paper is supposed to be uniform over a thickness δ. Heat transfer between paper and environment is neglected. Cutting energy per unit length El can be calculated as equation 12.1 shows.

1 R 2CP Td

V

E P  

(12.1) where El cutting energy per unit length, J m^-1

P laser power, W

v cutting speed, m s^-1

ρ density of paper material, kg m^-3 R radius of laser beam, m

δ thickness of paper material, m

Cp specific heat of paper material, J kg^-1 K^-1

ΔTd (= Td - Ta, Td = degradation temperature, Ta = ambient temperature), K.

For paper materials, Cp = 1500 J kg^-1 K^-1 and ΔTd = 400 K.

Disadvantage of this model is that it does not take into account absorption and thermal diffusion of the heat produced by laser (Archer et al., 2005).

Acher et al. (Archer et al., 2005) concluded that the simple model described in equation 12.1 must be greatly improved in order to better account for the different physical phenomena that occur in the laser paper cutting experiment: optical penetration of the heat deposition, thermal diffusion during and after the laser excitation, and dissipation of enthalpy in the course of the degradation/combustion of the paper (Archer et al., 2005).

13 Theoretical model of CO2 laser cutting of non-metallic materials

From literature one interesting article about laser cutting of non-metallic materials was found. It introduces factors that affect laser cutting of non-metallic materials.

Zhou and Mahdavian (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004) have represented a study of analysis of laser cutting of non-metallic material. A 60 W low power CO2-laser was used in this study. Materials, like plastic, wood, particle board, and rubber, were cut with different values of laser power and different values of cutting speeds. A theoretical model was deduced estimating the depth of the cut in terms of material properties and cutting speed. The experimental cutting results were compared with theoretical results. The analysis helps the manufacturing industry in choosing a suitable laser system for cutting or marking non-metallic materials.

The non-metallic materials have low thermal conductivity and thermal diffusion coefficients, but most of these materials have high absorptivity in wavelength of 10.6 µm (CO2-laser). It is assumed that all laser energy is absorbed to the material and all absorbed energy is converted to heat that vaporises the material. The energy balance method is used in the analysis and energy lost to surrounding material caused by heat conduction is ignored. The laser beam is focused on the top surface of workpiece (radius of R) and the maximum depth of cut is located to the centre of focal spot. When a laser beam moves on the surface of the workpiece, the maximum depth of cut is located on the centre line of the laser beam. This is why only the energy distributed along the central line of the laser beam movement is considered. To be able to deduce the depth of cut, small area ΔS on the central line is studied (shown in figure 13.1) (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

The total radiation energy E absorbed by the small area ΔS, is calculated. The value of total absorbed energy is used to calculate the volume of material that is vaporized by the energy at the small area ΔS. If the volume of the vaporized materials is divided by the area ΔS, the outcome is the height of vaporized material; so this is the depth of the cut (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Most lasers used for cutting applications in the manufacturing industry are in Transverse Electromagnetic Mode (TEM). TEM00 has a Gaussian distribution and is usually considered the best mode for cutting. Diffraction effects during focusing are minimized due to Gaussian beam profile.

This allows the generation of small spot size. Energy is concentrated in a small area. For the Gaussian energy distribution, the laser intensity distribution is given as equation 13.1 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Figure 13.1. Laser beam focused on workpiece, when non-metallic materials are laser cut with CO2 laser (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).



Laser beam radius is defined as the distance from the centre to the point where the laser intensity value is reduced to I0/e². For a laser beam with output power of P, which is focused on the workpiece with absorptivity a, the peak intensity I0 can be calculated as equation 13.2 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Laser intensity distribution along the central line of the moving laser beam is only considered. So y

= 0 and equation 13.1 can be written as equation 13.3 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

2

Again considering a small area ΔS at the centre line of the moving laser beam on the workpiece surface, the small area ΔS has dimension ΔX and ΔY in x and y axes (equation 13.4) (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

ΔS = ΔXΔY (13.4) where ΔS small area on workpiece, m²

ΔX x-axis dimension of ΔS, m ΔY y-axis dimension of ΔS, m.

The laser power used for laser cutting on area ΔS is calculated as equation 13.5 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

In laser cutting process the width of cutting is constant and is only limited by the diameter of the laser beam. The cutting path may be considered as a line along the centre line which is subjected to the peak power where it cuts the deepest point. If the workpiece moves under the laser beam with a uniform speed V (mm/s), time of laser cutting in small area ΔS is got, as equation 13.6 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

When ΔX from equation 13.6 is substituted into equation 13.4 and substitute the result in equation 13.5, the total energy absorbed by small area ΔS can be written as equation 13.7 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Weight of material W vaporized by the total absorbed energy E can be calculated as equation 13.8 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

i

Specific energy is the energy required to vaporize 1 g of material and is given equation 13.9 (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Q = c (Tm − Te) + Lv (13.9) where c the specific heat, J K^-1 g^-1

Tm the melting temperature, K Te the ambient temperature, K Lv the latent heat of vaporization, J g^-1.

The thermal conductivity term in equation 13.9 was neglected. On the small area ΔS the depth of cutting is obtained from equation 13.10 (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).



When W and ΔS from above equations are substituted into equation 13.10, the depth of cut D is given by equation 13.11 (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

i equation 13.12 (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).





After integrating equation 13.12 and substituting I0 with Gaussian energy distribution from equation 13.8 and considering the absorption, the depth of cut is calculated as equation 13.13 shows (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Equation 13.13 reveals that the depth of cut is varied linearly with laser power and nonlinearly with cutting speed (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Zhou and Mahdavian (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004) concluded that theoretical results follow the same trend as the experimental results. The difference in depth of cuts is significant at low values of laser speed. The reason for these differences can be due to neglecting factors such as heat conduction, the blocking effect on the laser beam by rejecting materials and partial absorption for laser radiation. This study stated that most important factor is the blocking action of rejected materials on the laser beam.

When value of laser power needed to produce a desired depth of cut is estimated from equation 13.13, excess values of laser power was noticed by Zhou and Mahdavian. To make correct predication for the laser cutting process, equation 13.13 is modified by introducing two constants (B, ω). The modified equation is shown in equation 13.14 (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).



where B constant related to material, - ω constant related to material, -.

B and ω are related to material properties. Equation 13.14 can be used for practical purposes by the manufacturing industry. The values of B and ω have been determined from experimental data.

These values for some materials are shown in table 13.1 (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

Table 13.1 Values of B and ω for some materials (Zhou and Mahdavian, 2004).

II INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF LASER PROCESSING OF PAPER MATERIALS

14 Laser cutting of paper materials 14.1 Basic principle

When a laser beam with high energy intensity is focused on the top surface of workpiece, paper material is heated and it decomposes chemically. Degradation products are evaporated or removed from cut kerf by cutting gas jet. Purpose of cutting gas is to protect focusing lens. A cut kerf is formed, when cutting head which consists of focusing lens, laser beam, nozzle and cutting gas, is removed in relation to work piece (Federle and Keller, 1992a; Federle and Keller, 1992b).

a) b) c) Figure 14.1. Example of laser cut paper material products: a) laser cut DVD package, b) laser

cut double-CD-package (Malmberg et al., 2006) and c) rocking chair (Anon., 2011d).

Laser beam is formed in resonator in lasing medium and is transferred (by mirrors or by optical fibre, that is depending on wavelength of laser light) to cutting head. Laser beam is focused to a very small spot by focusing lens that is located inside the cutting head. A small focal point with high energy intensity interacts with paper material in above mentioned way and a cut kerf is formed (Rickli, 1982). Figure 14.2 shows the basic mechanism of laser cutting of paper materials.

Figure 14.2. Basic mechanism of laser cutting of paper materials.

14.2 Cutting mechanism

Cutting mechanism in laser cutting of paper materials is vaporisation cutting. This mechanism means a cutting method where laser beam heats up the material top surface to evaporation temperature or to temperature where chemical degradation happens. Physical phase change in vaporisation cutting is directly from solid to vapour. Materials that can be laser cut this way do not melt (Malmberg and Kujanpää, 2006a).

Usually inert cutting gas (like nitrogen or argon) is used to prevent combustion of vaporised material (Federle and Keller, 1992a; Malmberg and Kujanpää, 2006a).

Physical change from solid to vapour happens through chemical degradation of paper materials.

Most of laser power is used to breaking chemical bonds of material. When paper materials are cut with laser beam, chemical degradation means breaking of long-chained cellulose molecules to carbon and water vapour (Malmberg et al., 2006).

14.3 Cutting processes in paper making

In paper/board making process there are several needs for cutting, like (Malmberg et al., 2006):

- edge trimming of web in dry end of paper machine, - edge trimming of web in winder,

- cross-machine direction cutting of web, - slitting of web to customer width, - sheeting of web,

- cutting of package blanks etc.

Paper/board making and converting industry usually need high-capacity machines and it means that high-speed cutting is needed. Conventionally cutting of fibre material is mainly done by mechanical blade cutting or die-cutting (also rotating die-cutting tools are used). In 80´s high pressure cutting water jet became as a competitive cutting method especially in edge trimming. In late 90´s the laser beam method put a new challenge for these two older mechanisms, especially in packaging and paper converting industry (Malmberg et al., 2006).

While there are several cutting needs in papermaking process, also laser cutting of fibre material consists of several application possibilities. Laser cutting of uncoated and coated paper materials can be done successfully and laser cutting does not have any effect on printability properties of them. Also printed paper and board can be cut with laser beam and cutting quality is very good (Malmberg and Kujanpää, 2006c; Malmberg and Kujanpää, 2006d). Lasers can be used for slitting of paper material web in paper machine or in rewinding (Schable, 1993). Laser is also a novel tool to replace water jet cutters in edge trimming processes. Hovikorpi et al. (Hovikorpi et al., 2004a) noticed in study of laser cutting that a magazine paper can be cut with laser beam at speed of 4400 m/min. This speed totally fulfils the requirements of papermaking process (Hovikorpi et al., 2004a).

Laser cutting technology can be also combined with digital printers. Conventionally paper materials have been printed with rotogravure or offset method. When these printing methods are used, batch sizes usually are large (several thousand or ten thousand pieces) and each change in print image needs a special modification to print tool. Advantage of digital printing is that even very small batch sizes (hundred pieces) can be printed easily and change in print image is only question about programming. Laser cutting could provide also as on-line cutter further flexibility to whole printing process. A change in cutting pattern is only question of programming and no new cutting tool is needed (Boyle, 1999).

Paper and board can also be laser perforated with high speed and high accuracy. When mechanical perforation is used the problem is strength loss of material due to broken fibres and uneven size of perforated holes due to wearing of perforation tool. Even and open holes are possible to produce with laser beam (Mommsen and Stürmer, 1990; Brockmann, 1999).

Generally it can be said that laser cutting in cutting of paper materials is recommended in following circumstances (Malmberg et al., 2006):

- when cutting is done by hands.

- wherever production size is small or constantly below 1000 pieces.

- always with digital printing.

- when high accuracy with complex geometries is needed.

- when specimen or sample batches are made.

- when material is expensive and maximum acquisition is needed.

- when flexible production and fast delivery is needed.

- when tailor-made products are needed.

14.4 Advantages and disadvantages of laser cutting

When paper/board is cut with conventional mechanical blades there are several problems, which make the cutting quality bad or even destroy it. A big problem in mechanical cutting of fibre

When paper/board is cut with conventional mechanical blades there are several problems, which make the cutting quality bad or even destroy it. A big problem in mechanical cutting of fibre

In document Characterisation of Laser Beam and Paper Material Interaction (sivua 67-0)