Comparison of Cut Path Deviation Between CO2 and Diode Lasers in Float-Glass Cutting

Laser cutting of glass using the controlled fracture technique leads to cut path deviation at the leading and trailing edges of the float glass sheet. In this technique, thermal stresses are used to induce the crack, and the material is separated along the cutting path by extending the crack. We show that the cut path deviation is partly due to high magnitudes of thermal stresses generated near the sheet edges. The absorption of intense radiation from the CO₂ and diode laser beams in the glass causes local temperature increases and consequently generates different thermal fields and stress distributions due to surface and volumetric heat absorption. In this paper, we report the effect of the CO₂ and diode laser wavelength interaction with the float glass and its effect on the magnitudes of thermal stresses generated near the edges of the glass sheet. We simulate the distribution of the thermal stress and temperature using finite-element analysis software Abaqus and validate it against the experimental data. We show that the CO₂ laser produces a lower surface quality and a larger cut path deviation at the leading and trailing edges of the glass sheet as compared to the diode laser.