Evaluating Laser Blanking for Your Manufacturing Needs

摘要

As the use of laser cutting technology continues to infiltrate the steel and aluminum blanking industry, there are many items that need to be evaluated in order to truly determine if laser blanking is a cost effective solution. Typically, laser blanking has been used as an alternative to steel rule dies for the production of blanks used in the forming die tryout process. This is just a single example of the use of laser blanking in a low volume environment. Laser blanking is currently being used to solve issues arising from the use of new high strength steels. Not only has laser blanking eliminated splits occurring in forming dies, which has resulted from micro-fractures created in the blanks during the mechanical blanking operation, but it also is a solution to address the increased maintenance cost and additional downtime created when the new higher strength steels are used. Cutting speeds and laser power have increased to the point where production rates are much higher than what was originally thought could be achieved with the laser blanking process. The task now becomes what needs to be evaluated in order to determine if laser blanking is a potential solution for your needs. This paper will go into the technical details of the factors that need to be evaluated in order to determine if laser blanking can be a cost saving process that can be used in your blanking operation.