METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING GLASS SHEETS

• Main Authors: Waschbüsch, Michael, Engelhardt, Ulrich, Kurek, Klaus-Peter, Plapper, Volker
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 17.03.2022
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; GLASS; MACHINE TOOLS; MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; METALLURGY; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; TRANSPORTING; WELDING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM

A method is provided that includes providing a glass sheet of a thickness of at most 300 μm and irradiating the glass sheet with a pulsed laser beam. The laser beam has a light intensity inside the glass sheet leaves a filamentary damage along its path through the glass sheet. The laser beam and the glass sheet are moved relative to each other so that due to the pulses of the laser beam filamentary damages are inserted next to one another along a path running on the glass sheet. During the insertion of the filamentary damages, a tensile stress is applied on the glass at the filamentary damages and in the direction transverse to the path of the adjacent filamentary damages so that the glass sheet separates along the path during insertion of the filamentary damages.