UV laser cutting of beech plywood

This paper presents experimental and theoretical studies on the UV laser cutting of beech plywood. The multi-technological factors in the laser cutting process were determined using Taguchi’s parameter design approach. The study of the wood material after laser cutting, related to its microstructure, surface morphology, and surface energy, is included. Beech plywood components were cut using pulsed UV lasers with varying parameters to determine superior surface quality, based on SEM, gray level, water contact angle, and optical profiling. The results showed that the surface roughness, in Ra, of beech plywood components at different laser powers, with and without a gas flux control system, can be reduced from 17.3 to 11.1 μm. The burn marks of the laser cut samples were also characterized in terms of gray level estimation. The results indicated that the gray level of the samples was increased by about 16% with a gas flux control system, implying a lesser extent of the burn marks in the plywood. The proposed laser cutting approach was proven to be successful in controlling the surface finish quality of beech plywood components.