Metal Cutting Chip Breaking by Lasers

In automated machining processes, long and continuous chips often cause machine down and hence increase process cost. Chip control or chip breaking methods are essential for unattended and automated systems such as CNC metal cutting machine or other fully automated metal cutting machines, especially for those which are integrated into production line.

Conventional metal cutting chip control relies on the knowledge of chip flow angle, chip curl and breakage. In this paper, a new concept of metal cutting chip breaking using laser energy is presented and discussed. Preliminary laser chip breaking for copper, aluminum and steel was investigated under static conditions by using a commercially available pulsed Nd:YAG laser. The results showed that the effectiveness of chip breaking by lasers varied dramatically at different levels of laser energy with or without assisted blow-off air. This study indicates that laser breaking of metal cutting chip is a potential technology for the chip control during machining.