Laser drilling of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers: Processing and intelligent optimization— A review

Due to the complex structure of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), achieving high quality drilling through conventional mechanical methods remains challenging; laser processing offers an efficient and precise alternative. This review summarizes the effects of laser parameters such as laser mode, wavelength, power, and scanning strategy on drilling quality in CFRP, and analyzes the key factors influencing the heat affected zone (HAZ) and hole taper. Ultrafast lasers can confine the HAZ to below 10 μm through a non-thermal ablation mechanism while achieving a hole taper of less than 0.32°. It elucidates the mechanisms by which auxiliary media mitigate thermal damage and enhance processing quality. Silicone-oil-assisted processing can reduce the HAZ by approximately 75-88%. It further summarizes modeling approaches that leverage experimental data and intelligent algorithms, along with their applications to multi-objective quality prediction and process parameter optimization. Genetic algorithm (GA) optimization can reduce the hole taper by 31.94% and decrease the spatter size by 37.80%. These studies provide valuable references for achieving high quality, high efficiency, and intelligent manufacturing of CFRP components. In addition, this review discusses future research directions for laser drilling of CFRP. • Laser parameters and scanning strategies strongly affect CFRP drilling quality. • Mechanisms of HAZ and hole taper formation in laser drilling are clarified. • Auxiliary media suppress thermal damage and improve hole wall integrity. • AI models enable efficient parameter prediction and global optimization. • Laser drilling shows strong potential in aerospace and other industries.