Processing of carbon fiber using femtosecond laser

In order to confirm the feasibility of carbon fiber processing using lasers, the processing of carbon fiber blocks using femtosecond and continuous laser sources was researched. The morphologies of the processed region applying femtosecond and continuous laser sources were investigated. Compared with the processing using continuous laser, the optical processing of carbon fiber blocks using a femtosecond laser with pulse duration of 40fs is efficient and the processing quality is excellent with the edge of the processed region quite smooth. The threshold of processing using femtosecond pulses was deduced to be in the level of 1012 W/cm2 by investigating the radius of processed region with different laser power. The experimental results prove that the optical processing of carbon fiber blocks is feasible.