Experimental and Numerical Simulation Research on Micro-Gears Fabrication by Laser Shock Punching Process

The aim of this paper is to fabricate micro-gears via laser shock punching with Spitlight 2000 Nd-YAG Laser, and to discuss effects of process parameters namely laser energy, soft punch properties and blank-holder on the quality of micro-gears deeply. Results show that dimensional accuracy is the best shocked at 1690 mJ. Tensile fracture instead of shear fracture is the main fracture mode under low laser energy. The soft punch might cause damage to punching quality when too high energy is employed. Appropriate thickness and hardness of soft punch is necessary. Silica gel with 200 µm in thickness is beneficial to not only homogenize energy but also propagate the shock wave. Polyurethane films need more energy than silica gel with the same thickness. In addition, blank-holders with different weight levels are used. A heavier blank-holder is more beneficial to improve the cutting quality. Furthermore, the simulation is conducted to reveal typical stages and the different deformation behavior under high and low pulse energy. The simulation results show that the fracture mode changes under lower energy.

[1]  P. Ballard,et al.  Physical study of laser-produced plasma in confined geometry , 1990 .

[2]  Tai Chiu Lee,et al.  Straining behaviour in blanking process - fine blanking vs conventional blanking , 1995 .

[3]  R. Fabbro,et al.  Laser shock processing: a review of the physics and applications , 1995, Optical and Quantum Electronics.

[4]  Hans Kurt Tönshoff,et al.  Three-Dimensional Micromachining by Machine Tools , 1997 .

[5]  W. B. Bae,et al.  The effect of V-ring indenter on the sheared surface in the fine-blanking process of pawl , 2003 .

[6]  H. Watari,et al.  Flexible punching method using an elastic tool instead of a metal punch , 2003 .

[7]  M. Husnu Dirikolu,et al.  Computer aided modelling of flexible forming process , 2004 .

[8]  S. Rhim,et al.  Micro-hole fabrication by mechanical punching process , 2005 .

[9]  S. Rhim,et al.  Punching of Ultra Small Size Hole Array , 2005 .

[10]  Soo-Ik Oh,et al.  Mechanical punching of 15 μm size hole , 2006 .

[11]  J. Ni,et al.  Investigation of micro/meso sheet soft punch stamping process - simulation and experiments , 2009 .

[12]  Xiao Wang,et al.  Numerical simulation and experimentation of a novel micro scale laser high speed punching , 2010 .

[13]  E. Ghassemali,et al.  Progressive microforming process: towards the mass production of micro-parts using sheet metal , 2013 .

[14]  Jianzhong Zhou,et al.  Investigation of microscale laser dynamic flexible forming process—simulation and experiments , 2013 .

[15]  Jie Xu,et al.  Micro-punching process of stainless steel foil with micro-die fabricated by micro-EDM , 2014 .

[16]  Huixia Liu,et al.  Micro-punching of aluminum foil by laser dynamic flexible punching process , 2015 .