Severance energies for non-metallic materials: Part 1 - Fibreboard and plywood timber sheet

This paper uses the concept of severance energy in the laser cutting of non-metallic materials. Part 1 reports on the application of this concept to medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and timber plywood sheet. Severance energies have been collated and/or determined from various published works for both continuous wave and pulse-mode cutting, and the subsequent results compared. These show that a general value of severance energy can be prescribed for the CO₂ laser cutting of MDF and plywood timber sheet. © 2001 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V.