Realization of effective laser blanking process by heat zone spread resistance coating and optimization methods

Abstract

Laser blanking process is widely used for the ability to cut complex profiles on sheet metal without Die. Laser blanking process needs optimization methods to reduce wastage of raw material and cutting time. The work entails optimization of sheet metal nesting allocation to reduce wastage and also optimizes cutting time by reducing ideal travel distance. The laser irradiation induces heat affected zone in the cutting surface leading to poor service life of the components in the cutting edges. The development of AlN heat zone spread resistance coating over steel substrate through a reactive sputtering process is presented. The thin film preparation is carried out in two different combinations of Argon and Nitrogen ratio namely 1:1 and 2:1, respectively. The coating over the steel substrate is exposed to laser to analyze the micro-structural change induced by the laser in the cutting edges. The coating is observed to mitigate the spreading of heat zone. The coatings are further subjected to tafel polarization to analyze the corrosion resistance of the steel substrate. In this paper, an approach has been made to obtain an optimal allocation based on the selection of different dimensions of the AlN coated sheet and also to calculate the utilization and cutting time. The proposed method provides an optimal layout for parts using a software and to obtain minimum travel ideal distance a heuristic algorithm is used. Since the sheet is coated there is also an add-on advantage in minimizing cutting time. Finally, an Optimal Pareto front is developed between wastage and ideal cutting distance, in order to provide choices for the user to select the requirement in both cases.