All-round: combining laser cutting and edge shaping of glass

Cutting glass to shape with ultra short laser pulses is nowadays a well established industrial process. Pulses with an elongated straight focal volume (line focus) are used to modify the workpiece throughout its entire depth with one single laser shot. At the same time, processed glass is often required to have a seamed or round edge, which usually requires an extra grinding step. Here we demonstrate that curved line foci can be used to combine cutting and edge shaping of glass sheets in one laser process. We reconsider the Airy-Gauss beam for this purpose, and suggest modifications to the beam profile to avoid unwanted effects, in particular an asymmetric laser modification of the glass sheet. We provide a combined experimental and numerical analysis of the laser process, and show a symmetric convex edge created in a 920 mu m thick glass sheet.

Automated summary

This paper explores the method of using curved line foci for cutting and edge shaping of glass sheets. By modifying the beam profile to avoid asymmetric laser modification of the glass sheet, a symmetric convex edge is successfully created on a 920 μm thick glass sheet.