Feasibility study of combining laser cutting with cold forming in a production line

• Autor(a) principal: Preto, Pedro Filipe da Mota
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/17040
• topic: Laser cutting quality; Laser cutting parameters; Process repeatability; Qualidade do corte a laser; Parâmetros do corte a laser; Repetibilidade do processo

Cold forming is a manufacturing process that allows high production rates while obtaining a very good accuracy. However, when starting the production of a new part, sometimes it is unavoidable to have some changes in the geometry of the component or even production errors, leading to high losses of time and money in punching equipment. Laser technology has been improving over the past decades and, as such, it is nowadays used in several different areas. In the industry, laser is essentially used in the cutting process of different materials due to its high versatility and its high cut quality, when compared to similar manufacturing processes. For this reason, this study aims to test the feasibility of combining laser cutting with cold forming in a production line, in order to produce prototypes or small volumes of production, to reduce initial costs and times related to starting the production of a new component. The following work was developed at Philips Consumer Lifestyle aiming to test the feasibility to produce the Ultron Guard with the combination of laser cutting with cold forming. In a first phase, the laser cut samples were carried out by Trumpf using different laser cutting parameters. Laser cutting parameters and important aspects observed during the realization of the tests were documented and studied. Posteriorly, the analysis of the samples was performed at Philips where a set of procedures was made in order to analyze the accuracy of the samples, analyze the microhardness, the microstructure and the burr dimensions, to verify if laser cutting achieves the required accuracy and quality, and how the parameters influence the cut quality in order to reach the best cut quality.