Original article

Proc IMechE Part E:

J Process Mechanical Engineering
Effect of nanofiller on fibre laser 0(0) 1–14
! IMechE 2018

drilling quality of carbon fibre reinforced Article reuse guidelines:

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polymer composite laminates DOI: 10.1177/0954408918812253

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Dhiraj Kumar1 and Kalyan Kumar Singh2

Abstract
Laser machining of carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites is a challenging task due to a significant difference
between physical and thermal properties of the constituent materials, i.e. polymer matrix and carbon fibres. This results
in extended heat-affected zone (HAZ), taper kerf and poor surface finishing. This paper focuses on an investigation,
attempting to minimise the divergence in the decomposition temperature of carbon fibres and epoxy resin by adding
multi-walled carbon nanotubes in polymer matrix as a secondary reinforcement. High thermal conductivity of multi-
walled carbon nanotubes increases the thermal diffusivity of polymer matrix, which in turn reduces the matrix recession.
In addition, laser power and scan speed was also considered as an input parameter and their influence on output
responses such as HAZ, taper angle and surface roughness has been studied. To analyse the effect of multi-walled
carbon nanotubes on the resultant thermal damage, an innovative technique, i.e. scanning acoustic microscopy was
used. This technique provides a ply-by-ply damage analysis. C-scans of the top and bottom surface of the machined holes
in the composite were also carried out. Further, micrographs of the holes were taken to analyse the quality of the holes
using field-emission scanning electron microscope. The obtained results indicated that HAZ, taper angle and surface
roughness of holes decreased by 30%, 47% and 43%, respectively, with 1.5 wt% multi-walled carbon nanotubes
doped carbon fibre reinforced polymer laminates, when compared with the results obtained from experiments with neat
carbon fibre reinforced polymer composite laminates.

Keywords
Fibre laser, drilling, carbon fibre reinforced polymer, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, HAZ, taper angle, surface roughness

Date received: 1 December 2017; accepted: 21 October 2018

widely carried out. However, during the AWJ

Introduction
Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites
are an essential engineering material, which are used
in various sectors, such as aerospace, marine, rail-
ways, energy, automobiles, defence and sports indus-
tries due to their attractive properties like high
strength-to-weight ratio, high specific stiffness and
corrosion resistance.1–6 In order to fabricate compo-
nents suitable for application in several industries,
various traditional machining operations, such as dril-
ling, milling, turning, channeling and shaping are
done.7 Machining of these materials are difficult due
to their anisotropic behaviour and abrasive nature.8
During conventional machining of CFRP, several
damages may occur, such as delamination, fibre frac-
ture, matrix pull-out and tool wear.9–13 The present
research was therefore focussed on non-traditional
machining of the CFRP laminates. Among several
non-traditional machining operations, abrasive
water jet (AWJ) and laser beam machining are
machining of composite laminates, absorption of
moisture, trapping of abrasive particles and delamin-
ation cause reduction in strength.14 Ultrasonic
machining has been used as an alternative to mechan-
ical and water jet machining. Though the quality of
the cut obtained by ultrasonic machining is high, it
leads to high tool wear.15
In 1990s, laser processing of CFRP material was
first introduced as a substitute to conventional
machining. Due to its non-contact and dry mode of
cutting, high-speed operation, zero tool wear and
1
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
(Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India
Corresponding author:
Dhiraj Kumar, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Email: dhiraj@mece.ism.ac.in
2 Proc IMechE Part E: J Process Mechanical Engineering 0(0)
vibration, this process ensured better quality of finish-
ing and easy operability.16–19 However, laser process-
ing of CFRP materials are different from other
materials due to the large variation in the thermal
behaviour of fibres and polymer matrix. A substantial
alteration of the decomposition temperature of
carbon fibres and matrix can be held to be responsible
for development of heat-affected zone (HAZ), taper
angle and poor cut quality.20,21
Tagliaferri et al.20 observed that better quality of
cut, lower HAZ and kerf width could be ensured if the
difference in decomposition temperature of fibres and
matrix could be kept lower. In order to minimise the
variance in decomposition temperature, dispersion of
highly conductive nanofillers was suggested by several
authors in the past. The influence of nanofillers on
laser processing was first reported by Yun et al.22
They found that HAZ could be reduced with the add-
ition of nanofillers in epoxy resin. Nagesh et al.23 used
carbon nanopowder as a filler in polymer matrix.
Their results indicated that as the wt% of carbon
nanopowder increased, both the HAZ and taper
angle were reduced. Al-Sulaiman et al.24 also used
carbon nanopowder as a potential filler and their
results revealed that increasing content of carbon
nanopowder could reduce the HAZ and taper angle.
Apart from deviation in thermal properties of fibres
and matrix, laser processing parameters also influence
the quality of the CFRP machining. According to Yue
and Lau,25 HAZ could be decreased and the quality of
the machined surface could be improved by proper
selection of laser processing parameters, such as,
laser beam power, scan speed and assisted gas pres-
sure. Kumar et al.26 conducted laser cutting on glass
fibre reinforced polymer composite laminates and
found that power and scan speed are the most influen-
cing process parameters on HAZ, taper angle and sur-
face roughness. Leone et al.27 reported that kerf width
is most affected by scan speed. However, HAZ was
found to be equally influenced by both, laser power
as well as scan speed. Herzog et al.28 conducted laser
cutting operation on CFRP laminates with different
types of lasers. They concluded that the dimensions
of HAZ depend on laser types and processing param-
eters. Ilio et al.29 and Takashi et al.30 also noticed
that laser parameters such as power and scan speed
have an influence on the quality of the laser cut during
machining of the CFRP laminates.
From the literature review, it can be concluded that
HAZ, taper angle and quality of the machined surface
are the primary concerns in laser drilling of CFRP
composites. Again, many authors concluded that
thermal damage is the main concern, which is
caused by the difference in decomposition tempera-
ture of carbon fibres and epoxy resin. In the present
work, MWCNTs have been used as potential nanofil-
lers to reduce the divergence in decomposition tem-
perature of carbon fibre and epoxy resin. MWCNTs
were also found to improve the mechanical properties
while ensuring thermal stability of the composite
laminates. The objective of the present research
work is to investigate the influence of MWCNTs on
HAZ, taper angle and surface quality of holes during
laser machining of MWCNT-doped CFRPs.
Materials and methods
Materials
For this investigation, MWCNT-doped epoxy/carbon
fabric polymeric nanocomposites were chosen as test
material. Work piece specimens were prepared by
using eight layers of plain woven roving pitch-based
carbon fibres (supplied by CFW Enterprises, New
Delhi, India) with stacking order of (0, 90)/(30,
60)/(30, 60)/(0, 90)//(90, 0)/(60, 30)/(60, 30)/
(90, 0). To fabricate the nanocomposites, calculated
amounts of MWCNTs (supplied by United Nanotech
Innovations Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore, India), i.e. 0.5 wt%,
1.0 wt% and 1.5 wt%, were added to epoxy resin. In
order to minimise the chance of agglomeration,
MWCNTs were dispersed in acetone with the help
of ultrasonic probe sonicator (Oscar Ultrasonic Pvt.
Ltd., Mumbai, India) and were sonicated for an hour
at 20 kHz. Then, epoxy resin (Lapox L-12 ARL-12
Epoxy Resin, Atul Ltd., India) was added to the mix-
ture and again sonicated for another hour. In order to
remove acetone, the mixture was stirred at 80  C for
an hour by using magnetic stirrer. A low viscous
curing agent (Lapox K-6 AH-312 Epoxy Hardener,
Atul Ltd., India) was added to the mixture after cool-
ing MWCNTs–epoxy at room temperature and mixed
by mechanical stirrer, rotating at 900 r/min for 10 min.
Finally, the mixture was applied on carbon fibre sheet
by hand lay-up technique and pressurised in a mould-
ing unit at 0.95 kg/cm2 and at room temperature for
24 h with the help of vacuum bagging method (see
Figure 1). Neat epoxy CFRP laminates were also fab-
ricated by the same method. Their approximate thick-
ness was 4.0 mm and they had 55% fibre volume
fraction.
Laser drilling
Laser drilling of CFRP laminates was carried out by
using continuous mode (CW) fibre laser (laser sourced
from SPI Lasers, UK) having maximum power of
400 W with a maximum modulation rate of 100 kHz.
The wave length of laser beam was 1070  10 nm with
100 mm focused beam spot size. The focal length of the
lens was 200 mm. The stand-off distance was main-
tained at 0.5 mm between the top surface of the lamin-
ate and the laser nozzle. Nitrogen (N2) was used as
assisted gas for drilling under 10 kg/cm2 pressure. N2
also aids in heat dissipation during drilling of CFRP
laminates. The laser source and laser head were
cooled by a chiller unit. Three-axis CNC bed was
used to conduct drilling of an 8 mm diameter hole
Kumar and Singh 3

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the material fabrication process.

Figure 2. (a) Laser drilling machining system and (b) schematic of laser machine and workpiece arrangement.

by means of trepanning technique, having work
volume of 150 mm  150 mm  100 mm with position
accuracy of 10 mm. The laser setup and the attach-
ment process of the laminates are shown in Figure 2.
Line energy
The laser machining parameters for MWCNT-doped
CFRP laminates are decided on the basis of line
energy. The ratio of laser power (P) to the cutting
velocity (v), termed as line energy (J/mm), is the
energy input per unit length of the material along
the cutting path. On the basis of the available litera-
ture, laser cutting of both conductive and non-
conductive materials is found to indicate that cutting
and scribing occur as a function of line energy.31 It
also denotes the combined influence of both these sig-
nificant parameters, i.e. laser beam power and cutting
4 Proc IMechE Part E: J Process Mechanical Engineering 0(0)
Figure 3. Line energy plot for CFRP laminate with different wt% of MWCNTs.
MWCNTs: multi-walled carbon nanotubes.
Table 1. Cutting parameters and their levels used in the
experiment.
Parameters Level of parameters
MWCNT (wt%) 0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Power (W) 300 320 340 360
Scan speed (mm/min) 180 210 240 270
Energy per unit length (J/mm) 100 91.42 85 80
velocity (scan speed). A typical plot of line energy for
different amounts of MWCNT-doped CFRP lamin-
ates is presented in Figure 3. Line energy of 60 J/mm
(300 W and 300 mm/min) or higher was found to be
required for hole cutting in 1.0 wt% MWCNTs and
1.5 wt% MWCNT-doped CFRP laminates. However,
in case of neat CFRP laminates and 0.5 wt%
MWCNT-doped CFRP laminates, slightly higher
energy was required for hole cutting. The maximum
available power for laser machining is 400 W. Thus,
for safe operation of machine, the maximum power
utilised during the laser machining process was 360 W
in this experiment. Therefore, as evident during
experimentations, parameters, such as, laser beam
power and scan speed, have to be determined on the
basis of line energy plots (see Table 1).
Measurement of HAZ, taper angle and
surface roughness
The HAZ was measured by using an optical micro-
scope and was assessed on the basis of burnt surface
around the holes. The maximum radial length of dar-
kend zone is measured using ImageJ software. For
each hole, four measurements were taken and their
average values were used for analysis. Taper angle
was measured by considering entrance and exit diam-
eter of holes by using equation (1) as mentioned by
Nagesh et al.32 Both top and bottom diameters were
measured by stereo zoom microscope using Axio
Vision microscopy 4.9.1 software (ZEISS) in which
lower taper denotes the minimum wastage of mater-
ials. Schematic representations of the HAZ and taper
angle are presented in Figure 4.
Dt  Db
Taper angle ¼ tan 1 ð1Þ
2T
where Dt and Db are the diameters at top and bottom
of holes, respectively, and T represents thickness of
material.
Surface roughness (Ra) of holes was measured
using contact-type stylus profilometer (SJ-210,
Mititoyo Inc., USA). Surface roughness measure-
ments were taken with a cut-off length of 0.8 mm
and by keeping stylus at a moving speed of 5 mm/s.
Four measurements were taken at different locations
of the hole and their average values were considered
for further analysis. The detailed setup for surface
roughness measurement is presented in Figure 5.
Thermal analysis of laminates
In order to investigate the influence of MWCNT dis-
persion on thermal stability of CFRP laminates,
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted.
STA449 F3 Jupiter, which is a simultaneous thermo-
gravimetric/differential thermal analyser, made by
Kumar and Singh 5

Figure 4. Schematic representation of (a) taper angle and (b) HAZ measurement.

Figure 5. (a) Surface roughness measurement set-up; (b) typical surface profile of machined hole.
6 Proc IMechE Part E: J Process Mechanical Engineering 0(0)

Figure 6. Scanning acoustic microscopy setup.

Netzsch, was used during investigation. In the present

work, CFRP laminates with various amounts of
MWCNTs were heated from a temperature of 30  C
to 1000  C at a heating rate of 5  C/min in an inert
(nitrogen) environment. The decomposition tempera-
ture was determined through heat scans.
Decomposition temperature is the temperature at
which a composite starts to chemically decompose.
Four samples were used for the replication of results
for each wt% of MWCNT-doped CFRP laminates.

Scanning acoustic microscope analysis

To investigate the role of laser parameters and wt% of
MWCNTs in determining the extent of thermal
damage, an innovative technique, i.e. scanning acous-
tic microscope (SAM) (model: V 400, manufactured
by KSI, Germany) was used. In order to maintain a
balance between image quality and depth of scanning,
50 MHz non-contact transducer was used. Deionised
water was used as the coupling medium for transmis-
sion of ultrasonic sound wave from transducer to the
work piece. For better visualisation of ply-by-ply
damage, a gap of approximately 5 mm was main-
tained between the upper surface of the work piece
and the transducer. Furthermore, X-scan was done
on holes to examine the ply-by-ply damage along
the depth of hole. In addition, C-scan was done on
the top and bottom of the laminates to assess damages
at the laser beam entry and exit sides. A detailed setup
of SAM is presented in Figure 6. Field-emission scan-
ning electron microscope (FESEM) was used to inves-
tigate the interaction of the laser beam with fibres and
matrix and their micrograph characterisation. The
drilled hole was cut open and damages were examined
along the depth of the hole.
Results and discussion
TGA analysis of MWCNT-doped CFRP laminates
Figure 7 presents the TGA analysis of CFRP lamin-
ates with 0 wt%, 0.5 wt%, 1.0 wt% and 1.5 wt%
Figure 7. Thermogravimetric analysis of CFRP laminates.
MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.
MWCNTs, which signifies the mass loss due to oxi-
disation. The initial decomposition temperature for
10 wt% loss of the laminates was measured, which
was 99.83  C, 121.44  C, 155.27  C and 183.27  C,
respectively, for 0 wt%, 0.5 wt%, 1.0 wt% and
1.5 wt% MWCNT-doped CFRP laminates. It was
observed that the decomposition temperature of
the CFRP laminates increased with the addition of
MWCNTs in the polymer matrix. As a result of
improved nanotube dispersions, the decomposition
temperature of CFRP laminates with 1.5 wt%
MWCNTs improved by 83.44  C as compared to
that of neat epoxy CFRP laminates. This led to a
strong interaction between epoxy and MWCNTs,
retarding diffusion of small molecules from the poly-
mer matrix under high temperature, thereby build-
ing a highly rigid network, As a result, the thermal
stability of CFRP laminates improved with the add-
ition of MWCNTs. This observation clearly indi-
cates that laminates with 1.5 wt% MWCNTs show
better thermal stability than the neat epoxy CFRP
laminates.
Kumar and Singh
Figure 8. Variation of taper angle with (a) laser power and (b) scan speed for the various amounts of MWCNT.
MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.
Taper angle
Development of taper kerf during laser machining of
CFRP composite material is a critical issue that has to
be minimised. Taper angle is considered to be one of
the main quality factors in laser machining of com-
posite laminates. In the present work, hole taper was
measured by considering top and bottom diameters of
the hole, which has already been described in the ear-
lier section. The average value of taper angle with
standard deviation is presented in Figure 8 for various
amounts of MWCNT-doped CFRP with variation in
laser beam power and scan speed.
In Figure 8(a), taper angle can be seen to decrease
with a specific amount of power at a constant scan
speed (180 mm/min), which is consistent with earlier
observations.33 It also decreases with increasing
MWCNT content in the polymer matrix. This is so
because with high laser power, a larger amount of
energy is transmitted to the cutting section, which in
turn enables a straight cut. However, when laser beam
is incident on the top surface of CFRP laminates, heat
diffuses rapidly along the length and depth of holes
due to high thermal diffusivity (400 cm2/s) of carbon
fibres,34 thereby lowering the energy intensity.
Consequently, a larger taper can be observed at a
lower power.
Accumulation of heat is another major problem
during laser processing of CFRP laminates. With
the poor heat conduction along the thickness direc-
tion of hole (between fibres and ply stacks), maximum
amount of materials from the top surface is removed,
thereby causing taper kerf. MWCNTs add to the heat
transfer characteristic along the length and depth of a
machined hole and they are found to reduce heat
accumulation by improving heat conduction between
fibres and ply stacks. As a result, lower taper angle
7
can be observed while processing 1.5 wt% MWCNT-
doped CFRPs with 360 W of laser power. Figure 8(b)
indicates that during laser processing of CFRPs, as
scan speed increases with constant laser power
(360 W), taper angle increases as well. This phenom-
enon can be observed due to two fundamental factors,
i.e. thermal diffusivity and vaporisation temperature.
Thermal diffusivity and vaporisation temperature of
carbon fibres are 400 cm2/s and 3300  C, respect-
ively.34 Therefore, the intensity of incident energy or
energy per unit length reduces as scan speed increases.
Consequently, larger taper angle is observed at higher
scan speed. However, HAZ decreases with increasing
scan speed due to shorter interaction between the
laminate and the laser beam, thereby reducing
energy per unit length. As a result, less matrix reces-
sion is observed. On the other hand, by increasing the
MWCNTs content in polymer matrix, lower taper
angle can be observed. Thermal diffusivity across
the fibre direction in a hybrid system (matrix and
carbon fibre plies) increases due to the dispersion of
MWCNTs in the matrix. As a result, the available
heat capacity increases as well. Additionally, due to
the presence of MWCNT powder in the matrix,
absorption of laser radiation in the matrix presumably
increases to a great extent.
Figure 9 shows the FESEM micrograph of a semi-
circular cut, machined with 300 W of laser beam
power and 180 mm/min of scan speed with various
amounts of MWCNT-doped CFRP composite lamin-
ates. During the process, the entry, middle and exit
diameters of the semi-circular cut were measured.
Differences between the entry and the exit diameter
were noticed to decrease with increasing amount of
MWCNTs in the polymer matrix, which proves that
the transfer of incident energy between the fibres and
ply stacks improves with increasing content of
MWCNTs.
8 Proc IMechE Part E: J Process Mechanical Engineering 0(0)

Figure 9. Micrograph of semi-circular cut showing diameter at top, middle, and bottom part of hole machined at 100 J/mm for
various amount of MWCNTs-doped CFRP composites: (a) 0 wt% MWCNT; (b) 0.5 wt% MWCNT; (c) 1.0 wt% MWCNT; (d) 1.5 wt%
MWCNT.

Figure 10. Variation of surface roughness with (a) laser beam power and (b) scan speed for the various amount of MWCNT-doped
CFRP composites.
MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.

study, measurement of surface roughness (Ra) was

Surface roughness
Surface roughness is considered to be an important
parameter in manufacturing activities, which refers to
the quality and accuracy of machining. In the present
taken around the laser machined holes, having a
diameter of 8.0 mm. Figure 10 denotes plots of the
obtained average value with standard deviation for
surface roughness by variation of laser parameters.
Kumar and Singh
Figure 11. Micrograph hole machined at 100 J/mm for (a) 0 wt% MWCNTs and (b) 1.5 wt% MWCNTs-doped CFRP laminate.
In Figure 10(a), one can notice that as the
MWCNT content in polymer matrix increases, sur-
face roughness decreases. However, roughness
increased with the increase in laser power at a con-
stant scan speed (180 mm/min), which was consistent
with the observation of Shyha.35 This may be due to
the presence of protruded fibres alone at the
machined surface because it is the matrix that
decomposes first due to lower decomposition tem-
perature. Figure 10(b) shows variation in the surface
roughness with scanning speed at a constant laser
power of 300 W, which indicates that higher scan
speed unfavorably affects the surface quality.
Hence, quality surface can be ensured when CFRPs
are machined at a lower scanning speed. At a high
scanning speed, on the other hand, interaction of
laser beam with CFRP laminate surface is the min-
imum, which causes incomplete cutting of carbon
fibres concequently, resulting a poor quality of cut.
Incidence could be attributed to high thermal diffu-
sivity and vaporisation temperature of carbon fibres.
Therefore, an optimum intensity of energy is
required that could easily cut the carbon fibres with-
out creating a wider HAZ.
Moreover, with increment in the weight percent-
age of MWCNTs in the polymer matrix, surface
roughness decreased due to proper and smooth cut-
ting of carbon fibres leaving less protruded fibres on
the hole wall. The reason could be less matrix reces-
sion with the addition of MWCNTs that increase the
decomposition temperature of the polymer matrix.
In Figure 11, striations at the hole wall were found
to be more pronounced where gaps and cracks can
be noticed. However, in the case of 1.5 wt%
MWCNT-doped CFRP laminates, striations are
less pronounced. Also, negligible or less gap and
crack can be observed at the hole wall, which indi-
cates the improvement in surface quality. This phe-
nomenon occurred due to less decomposition of
matrix.
9
Thermal damage (HAZ)
During laser processing of CFRP composite mater-
ials, HAZ becomes a major concern and it has to be
minimised. HAZ is surrounded by charred materials
and protruding fibres along the kerf side. It extends to
that point where the material temperature is enough
to decompose the matrix. Figures 12 and 13 denote
variations in HAZ at the upper and bottom sides of
the hole, respectively, with laser beam power and scan
speed in various amounts of MWCNT-doped CFRPs.
At the upper side of the hole, HAZ is observed to be
lower than that of the bottom side. This could be due
to the transparent matrix material that passes the part
of laser beam to penetrate the material deeper until
being observed by the layers of carbon fibre, which
may lead to maximum absorption of energy from the
entry to the exit point. In addition, N2 gas, supplied
from the top, aids in heat dissipation as heat conduc-
tion is considered to be the primary mode of energy
transfer from the drilling zone to the contiguous
material. Therefore, width of HAZ depends on the
process parameters that would restrain heat conduc-
tion, including energy per unit length, thermal con-
ductivity, air cooling rate, and absorption.
Moreover, the dimension of HAZ increases as the dif-
ference of the decomposition temperature of fibre and
polymer matrix becomes larger. Therefore, to ensure
minimum HAZ, the difference between the decompos-
ition temperatures of fibres and matrix has to be kept
minimum.
In the present work, MWCNTs have been con-
sidered to be the potential nanofiller to minimise the
mismatch between the decomposition temperature
of carbon fibres and the polymer matrix. In
Figures 12(a) and 13(a), it is noticed that as the
laser beam power increases at a constant scan speed
(270 mm/min), HAZ increases as well. It can be
assumed that carbon fibres absorb a greater amount
10 Proc IMechE Part E: J Process Mechanical Engineering 0(0)

Figure 12. Variation of HAZ for various amount of MWCNT with (a) power and (b) scan speed at the top side.
MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.

Figure 13. Variation of HAZ for various amount of MWCNT with (a) power and (b) scan speed at the bottom side.
MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.

of heat along the fibre orientation due to their cap-
acity of higher heat conduction. Absorption of this
excess heat results in matrix recession or burn-outs.
However, HAZ around the hole decreases with the
increase in the scan speed at constant laser power of
300 W at both the entry and the exit sides of the
laser beam. This is because of the reduction in time
of interaction between the laser beam and the CFRP
laminates. In other words, with the reduction in heat
accumulation and heat conduction at the cut section
of the hole, a smaller HAZ is observed at a higher
scan speed as visible in Figures 12(b) and 13(b).
Moreover, as the wt% of MWCNTs increases in
the polymer matrix, it leads to a decrease in HAZ.
This could be due to enhanced decomposition tem-
perature and thermal stability of laminates with the
addition of MWCNTs, as discussed in an earlier sec-
tion. In other words, thermal diffusivity of polymer
matrix improves due to the addition of MWCNTs.36
While HAZ is observed to be minimum in 1.5 wt%
MWCNT-doped CFRP, it is maximum in the neat
CFRP composite material.
In order to assess the effect of MWCNTs in laser
processing of CFRP laminates, X-scan followed by
C-scan was conducted using SAM. C-scan provides
details about damages around holes at the top and
bottom sides, while X-scan assesses ply-by-ply
damage. During X-can, as the depth of scanning
Kumar and Singh 11

Figure 14. Ultrasonic C-scan images of MWCNT-doped CFRP nanocomposite at (a) entrance and (b) exit side. Parameters set A to D
are: set A – 300 W and 180 mm/min; set B – 300 W and 270 mm/min; set C – 360 W and 270 mm/min; set D – 360 W and 270 mm/min.
MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.

Figure 15. X-scan of MWCNTs-doped CFRP laminates.

MWCNT: multi-walled carbon nanotube.
12 Proc IMechE Part E: J Process Mechanical Engineering 0(0)

Figure 16. Micrograph of CFRP laminates doped with various amount of MWCNTs: (a) 0 wt% MWCNTs; (b) 0.5 wt% MWCNTs;
(c) 1.0 wt% MWCNTs; (d) 1.5 wt% MWCNT.

increased, a weak reflection was observed. In order to
get a proper visualisation of damage, the bottom
layers were scanned by flipping the laminates.
Figure 14(a) and (b) presents the C-scanned picture
of the hole at the respective entry and exit points of
the laser beam. The addition of MWCNTs in the
matrix was found to reduce the HAZ width (presented
in red line). This can be attributed to the improvement
in the decomposition temperature of the polymer
matrix.
Kumar and Singh
Figure 15 denotes the ply-by-ply damage develop-
ment due to HAZ from the top to the bottom side. As
expected, damage towards the exit point is more pro-
nounced. The top image shows entry side of the laser
beam and the bottom most image shows its exit side.
As mentioned earlier, due to a significant difference in
the decomposition temperature of carbon fibres and
matrix, the maximum heat conduction is recorded
along the fibre direction, which is enough to decom-
pose the matrix. Therefore, the maximum HAZ is
observed in neat CFRP composite laminate. The
HAZ is found to be lower at the top compared to
the bottom side of the laminate, which could be due
to the aforesaid reasons. HAZ is found to be minimum
in 1.5 wt% MWCNT-doped CFRP, which can be seen
in ply-by-ply damage demonstration as well.
Figure 16 shows the FESEM micrograph of a laser
machined hole in various amounts of MWCNT-
doped CFRP, taken at 300 W of laser power and
270 mm/min of scan speed. Figure 16(a) denotes the
micrograph of neat CFRP composite material, in
which voids and gaps can be seen around the hole
wall. Moreover, there is cavity formation at the
cross section of fibres due to accumulation of heat.
In case of 0.5 wt% MWCNT-doped CFRP (see
Figure 16(b)), voids and gaps cannot be noticed.
Accordingly, one can find a smooth cross section of
fibres with less cavity formation. However, protruded
fibres can be seen because matrix decomposes first due
to minimum decomposition temperature (350–500  C).
Similar observation can be made in Figure 16(c)
presenting the micrograph analysis of 1.0 wt%
MWCNT-doped CFRP machined hole. However,
while looking at the micrograph analysis of 1.5 wt%
MWCNT-doped CFRP in Figure 16(d), one can find
clear hole surface without voids and gaps along with a
smooth cross section of fibres and less matrix reces-
sion. This confirms an improvement in the quality of
machined holes due to the addition of MWCNTs in
the polymer matrix.
Conclusions
This paper has highlighted laser drilling of the
MWCNT-doped CFRP for the first time. The influ-
ence of MWCNT content, laser power and scan speed
on HAZ, taper angle and surface roughness has been
investigated. From a series of experiments, the follow-
ing conclusions can be drawn:
. Taper angle increases with scan speed but decreases
with an increase in laser beam power and wt% of
MWCNTs. During the present study, taper angle
decreased by 74% as wt% of MWCNTs increased
from 0% to 1.5%. Also, the maximum angle was
found at 90 J/mm and the minimum angle at the
highest energy per unit length of 120 J/mm.
. Surface roughness increases with an increase in
laser beam power and scan speed, whereas it
13
decreases with increasing weight percentage of the
MWCNTs. A lower value of surface roughness
(1.113 mm) was obtained with 1.5 wt% of
MWCNT reinforcing in the epoxy resin.
. HAZ at the upper side is lower than that at the
bottom side. However, HAZ increases with laser
power and decreases with scan speed. On the
other hand, HAZ decreases with an increase in
MWCNT content in the polymer matrix. During
the present study, lower value of HAZ (0.725 mm)
was observed during machining of 1.5% MWCNT-
doped CFRP laminates at 80 J/mm.
. Characterisation of the machined holes showed
good agreement with the experimental results vali-
dated through C-scan and ply-by-ply damage ana-
lysis. FESEM micrograph of the holes showed less
void, gap and protruded fibre in case of 1.5 wt%
MWCNT-doped CFRP. Also, cavity formation at
cross section of fibres was reduced due to increas-
ing amount of MWCNTs in the epoxy resin.
Future work
In future investigation, the effect of HAZ width on the
fatigue life and static test (tensile and bearing
strength) of laser machined holes will be carried out.
Acknowledgements
The principal authour would like to mention that the cur-
rent investigation was conducted at the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, India
during the course of his PhD. Both the authors would like
to thank Micro and Nano Characterisation facility, CENSE
at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India for allowing
the use of scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM).
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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