Description

Glass-filled composites are used for the over-molding of electrical components due to their good electrical isolation properties. Laser cutting is a preferred technology to remove excess mold material to achieve a low surface roughness and reduce tool wear. High material thicknesses of 6 mm and the hatching strategy of the processing laser can have an impact on the cutting duration for fiber-reinforced plastics. However, experiments in previous studies were only conducted on epoxy mold compounds with small thicknesses of up to 1 mm and without hatching. This work investigates the effects of higher material thicknesses and different hatching strategies regarding the cutting duration, taper, and heat-affected zone using a 50 W short-pulsed fiber laser for different highly filled epoxy mold compounds. The effects of parallel and perpendicular hatching are evaluated in comparison to the results without hatching. It is necessary to use a hatching strategy on workpieces with higher thicknesses for allowing a completion of the cut. The cutting time is lower for perpendicular hatching due to local heat accumulation. This also influences the tapering behavior of the cut with a more pronounced kink towards the bottom of the cut with perpendicular hatching. The hatching strategy must be chosen according to the requirements of geometry and cutting duration. Higher filler contents lead to an increase in cutting time, because of a decrease of the average absorption coefficient of the used laser wavelength. No impact of the filler content on the heat-affected zone or the tapering could be observed.

Contributing Authors

  • Jannis Kohl
    Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg | Vitesco Technologies GmbH
  • Thomas Will
    Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg | Vitesco Technologies GmbH | Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Tobias Klier
    Vitesco Technologies GmbH
  • Lars Müller
    Vitesco Technologies GmbH
  • Christian Goth
    Vitesco Technologies GmbH
Jannis Kohl
Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg | Vitesco Technologies GmbH
Track: Laser Materials Macroprocessing
Session: Poster Gallery
Day of Week: Tuesday
Date/Time:
Location: Exhibit Hall

Keywords

  • Ablation Rate
  • Epoxy Mold Composite
  • Hatching Strategy
  • Laser Cutting
  • Material Thickness