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.