LIÊN NGÀNH cơ KHÍ - ĐỘNG Lực
Laser and using laser cutting fabric, leather in industry Laser và ứng dụng laser để cắt vải, da trong công nghiệp
Ngo Huu Manh*, Mac Thi Nguyen, Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung
*Email: [email protected] Sao Do University Received date: 15/8/2021 Accepted date: 01/5/2022 Published date: 30/6/2022
Abstract
Laser technology provides advantages in cutting complex geometries, stable quality and possibility to utilize fabric and leather materials in economically best way. Constant quality is important in industrial processes of laser technology cutting. Additionally, laser technology is very flexible in terms of geometries such as complex geometries, individual parts and small scale products. Products which small size and volumes are application laser cutting can be more beneficial due to without a need to change cutting tool. But disadvantages of laser pro
cessing include high initial investment costs. Therefore, this paper investigates advantages and disadvantages of laser cutting and provides comparison between laser cutting and mechanical cutting.
Keywords: Cutting parameters; laser; fabric cutting; leather cutting; laser cutting.
Tóm tắt
Công nghệ laser có nhiều ưu điểm khi cắt các hình dạng phức tạp, chất lượng cắt ổn định và hiệu quả kinh tế cao khi cắt vật liệu vải và da. Chất lượng ổn định là yếu tố quan trọng của công nghệ cắt laser trong sản xuất công nghiệp. Bên cạnh đó, công nghệ laser có khả năng linh hoạt cao khi cắt các hình có biên dạng phức tạp, các chi tiết đơn lẻ và các sản phẩm kích cỡ nhỏ. Các chi tiết có kích thược và khối lượng nhỏ được cắt băng laser sẽ thuận lợi hơn do không cần thay đổi công cụ cắt. Nhưng nhược điểm của quá trình cắt bằng laser là chi phí đầu tư ban đầu cao. Vì vậy, bài báo này đánh giá những ưu và nhược điểm của cắt laser và đưa ra so sánh giữa phương pháp cắt laser với cắt cơ học.
Từ khóa: Chế độ cắt; laser; cắt vải; cắt da; cắt laser.
1. INTRODUCTION
Currently technologies which are applied for leather cutting include slitting knifes, die press techniques and manual cutting. Use of laser technology has grown sig
nificantly during recent years due to number of advan
tages over conventional cutting methods such as flexi
bility, high production speed, possibility to cut complex geometries, easier cutting of customized parts and less leftovers of leather makes laser cutting more and more economically attractive to apply for leather cutting.
Figure. 1. Laser cutting techniques used by artists:
Cutting with scissors, draw-gauge knife and straight knife [1]
Tools which are used for cutting of leather include scis
sors, knifes and draw-gauge knifes. These tools are applied depending on the cut object shape and raw
Reviewer: 1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Ve Quoc 2. Dr. Vu Van Tan
leather material. Scissors can be used for relatively thin leathers whereas thicker leather is cut with knives.
Draw-gauge knifes are the most effective for straight lines. Curved lines and sharp edges are best achieved with straight knives [1].
Nowadays, there is a clear difference in cutting tech
nologies applied to leather. Industrial leather process
ing serves the purpose of mass production of leather items in order to satisfy the demand of essential prod
ucts like clothes, shoes, bags, etc. Thisdemands from technology to be economically efficient, fast, adaptive and to provide maximum possible results with mini
mum possible cost. Manual cutting with use of scis
sors and special knifes is used in leather crafting. This allows to produce individual unique items whose value is not determined by functionality but based more on visual effects and design features.
We are known that, laser technology enables cutting of a great variety of material from metals to non-me- tallic materials. Laser energy can be applied directly on desired objects with easy control of its power and intensity. Leather is suitable material for laser cutting.
This makes laser an attractive tool for leather cutting.
It provides high quality cutting, easy change of cutting geometry and production in short time but on the oth
er hand requires high initial investments and requires special knowledge of laser operation. Beside that it
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has thermal effect on leather that might be an issue in some applications.
The systems are applied in industrial leather cutting [2]:
+ Swing arm cutting presses.
+ Log slitting, strip cutting and guillotining machines.
+ Manual travelling head press.
+ Manual fixed beam press.
+ Receding head press.
+ Leather cutting systems.
+ CNC knife cutting tables.
+ Waterjet cutting systems.
Die cutting press is one of the most traditional meth
ods of leather cutting. Waterjet cutting and CNC knife cutting tables were applied in leather cutting applica
tions in relatively recent times [3]. This development allowed application of automatic vision based systems for inspection, distribution and optimization of cutting
procedure [4],
CO2 laser cutting and engraving machines are widely used to cut or engrave the leather materials, mostly in shoes, bags, cloth or other industries. Generally, the cutting speed can reach 5-30 mm per second, the en
graving speed may reach 600 mm per second [3], The economy of the laser cutting process mainly de
pends on two productivity aspects: Nesting and cutting sequence. Nesting is a process of positioning of parts to be cut on given material with the main aim to mini
mize waste. Nesting is often done based on operator experience and it becomes a challenge in case of large production volumes. Besides that, it does not guaran
tee the most efficient utilization of material. Nesting software is used nowadays to enhance material utili
zation and improve flexibility. Cutting sequence targets the optimal cutting procedure for minimum cycle time.
The objective of cutting sequence is to find the shortest path to accomplish cutting procedure [5], The challeng
es with nesting and cutting sequence occur in leather cutting due to irregular shapes, contours and quality zones of natural leather. Such problems are especial
ly common in automotive industry for instance in cut
ting of large pieces of car seats [6]. The role of nesting software increases when leather cutting is applied in industrial scale [7],
Lasers are also reported to be applied for cleaning of leather surface. Nd:YAG lasers with wavelength of 1064, 532 and 266 nm were applied for this purpose.
Laser irradiation was applied to historical leather arte
facts in order to remove pollution substances and re
cover original leather color [8, 9],
Advantages of laser cutting: One of the main advan
tages of laser cutting is production at standard quality.
Laser cutting also maintains production in shorter time with higher quality. Due to ability to apply CAD/CAM and CIM system in design, it is possible to manufac
ture absolutely identical designs. Moreover, problems associated with conventional technologies, such as worn out design markers and dies, storage space and destruction of out-of-date ones are eliminated when la
ser cutting technology is used. Thus, laser cutting sys
tem provides a positive contribution to the environment from this particular point of view as well [10],
In the artworks, leather crafting or leather craft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both.
And in this paper investigates the most beneficial appli
cations of laser cutting of leather, describes its advan
tages, drawbacks and provides an overview on poten
tial use of laser as industrial or craftsmen cutting tool.
2. EXPERIMENTAL
2.1. Equipment and material
The laser cutting tests were carried out in Mechanical laboratory of Sao Do University (SDU). Laser cutting of fabric and leather were carried out as a part of project in 2017 of SDU.
Used laser source was Trumpf TLF 500 HQ CO2 la
ser which produces maximum nominal laser power of 500 w. The wavelength of the laser was 10.4 pm. The cutting tests were made using an XY table. For these cutting tests focal length of 127 mm (5”) was used. The cutting gas was compressed air of 3,0 bars pressure.
Figure. 2. Laser cutter
Laser cutting tests were performed with animal leather (originated from cattle) about 5 mm thickness (for most of the leather) and fabric about 10mm thickness (for 5-10 layer).
2.2. Cutting method
Using CO2 laser cutting technology to cut animal’s leather and fabric. The cutting process was performed on a laser cutting machine manufactured by the au
thor’s team. The cutting program was created on the computer and the laser cutter will run according to that program. And this cutting process is automatic.
!
Figure. 3. Design model on the computer
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. LIÊN NGÀNH cơ KHÍ - ĐỘNG Lực,
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Leather cutting tests
Laser cutting tests were performed in order to find optimal laser cutting parameters. Particular attention was paid to laser cutting speed with the aim to obtain the highest cutting speed possible. Dependence of laser power and cutting speed was also investigated.
Laser cutting parameters can be found in Table 1.
Table 1. Laser cutting parameters No Laser power
(W)
Cutting speed (m/
min)
Description
1 250 30 Complete
2 250 40 Complete
3 250 50 Complete
4 250 60 Not cut
5 500 50 Complete
6 500 75 Complete
7 500 100 Complete
8 500 125 Complete
9 500 150 Not cut
Laser cutting of leather can be done at high cutting speed with relatively low laser power requirements.
Dependence of laser power in relation to cutting speed can be described as linear meaning that increase of laser power by two times leads to four times faster cut
ting speed.
3.2. Fabric cutting tests
Laser cutting tests were performed in order to find opti
mal laser cutting parameters. Particular attention were dependenced of laser cutting speed and laser power.
Table 2. Laser cutting parameters
No Laser power (W)
Cutting speed
(m/min) Description
1 200 20 Complete
2 200 25 Complete
3 200 30 Not cut
4 200 35 Not cut
5 300 40 Complete
6 300 45 Complete
7 300 50 Complete
8 300 55 Not cut
9 300 60 Not cut
3.3. Laser cutting and mechanical cutting
Comparison of laser cut and mechanically cut leather samples was carried out based on visual evaluation of cut edges.
a. Laser cutting b. Die cutting c. Blade cutting Figure. 4. Comparison of laser and mechanical cutting
of black leather
Laser cutting of leather causes carbonized cut edge due to thermal impact of laser beam. This is not ob
served in mechanical cutting methods. Blade cutting provides the best result from leather structure point of view. And die cutting (punching with a sharp edge die) causes some change of leather structure that can be observed as jamming of top layer of leather.
Cutting leather with hand (blade or knife tools) is time consuming and it never gives an exact end result due to the nature of technique used. The hand cutting tools are suitable for unique design and custom made items where the nature of hand making is also an important technical and visual feature. Laser cutting could easily replace handicraft in variety of operations.
Especially making of prototypes can benefit significant
ly by the use of laser. Laser cutting would serve also as a tool for individual solutions and decorative and com
plex designs that would be difficult to achieve with any other method. Piercing and pattern making on leather can be taken to a complete new level due to the pos
sibilities of laser technologies. Due to its sustainable characteristics, laser has potential to be developed as a competitive method also for industry.
3.4. Effect of laser cutting
Effect of laser cutting on leather of different colors was evaluated visually based on images of laser cut edges.
Laser cutting causes slight carbonization of cut edge due to thermal influence. This effect is more visible in case of light color leather such as white or yellow.
This effect has to be taken into account when laser cutting is considered. Laser cut edge of dark and es
pecially brown leather can be considered as the most suitable for laser cutting whereas light colored leath
ers can have easily noticeable laser cut edge. Material thickness was varied as well, slight adjustment of laser cutting parameters was needed in order to obtain com
plete cutting.
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a. Black b. Brown c. Yellow d. Purple e. Red f. White Figure. 5. Comparison of different laser cut leathers For pieces where the variation in size or design is ne
eded laser is an ideal tool. For cutting leather it has some advantages compared to other techniques. The cutting marks of laser on leather are nearly invisible and the technique gives a finished touch to the mate
rial. The technique is exact and it does not cause stre
tching to the material, as hand cutting would cause.
There can be some extra work caused by the marks of carbonizing which can be washed with wet cloth from the leather. Also the leather needs to be ventilated af
ter cutting to eliminate the odor of burning.
ii
a. Green b. Blue c. Black Figure. 6. Comparison of different laser cut fabric For cutting fabric it has some advantages compared to other techniques. The technique is exact and it does not cause stretching to the material, as hand cutting would cause. Also the fabric needs to be ventilated af
ter cutting to eliminate the odor of burning.
Time ($)
Figure. 7. Diagram of the relationship between cutting efficiency and number of cutting layers
Generally, it can be said that laser cutting is the most suitable for cutting of complex geometries as it provides high flexibility, easy set up and nesting, fast change of geometries and high adaption ability to different mate
rial properties (such as thickness). On the other hand, high flexibility, easy set up and nesting together with high cutting speeds and constant cutting quality reveal potential for industrial applications. Easy applicability of nesting and cutting sequence software together with laser technology is another aspect which implies po
tential in industrial applications. However, carbonized cut edge may be a limiting factor in this case. Remov
al of carbonized marks and odor of smoke after laser cutting require special arrangements what is not very suitable for large volume production.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Laser cutting of fabric and leather were carried out us
ing CO2 laser with the wavelength of 10.4 pm. Laser cutting speed is dependence laser power source.
Laser cut edge quality was examined based on micro
graphs. Comparison of laser cut and mechanically cut show that, laser cutting is causes carbonization of cut edge which was the most distinctive difference among cutting methods.
Thermal effect of laser beam on cut edge was seen dif
ferent depending on fabric and leather color. Laser cut edge of dark and especially brown leather can be con
sidered as the most suitable for laser cutting whereas light colored leathers can have easily noticeable laser cut edge.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This publication has been written as part of results in 2017 research project of Sao Do University. Authors thank all participants and input to this article.
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Tạp chí Nghiên cứu khoa học, Trường Đại học Sao Đỏ, Số 2 (77) 2022 49 AUTHORS INFORMATION
Ngo Huu Manh
- 2016: Graduated of Doctor of Mechanical engineering, Hanoi university of Science and Technology.
- Current Job: Lecturer Head of Department of Science management and International cooperation, Sao Do university.
- Research fields: Mechanical engineering, welding technology, surface technology,
I material technology. I
- Phone: 0936847980 Email: [email protected]
Mac Thi Nguyen
- 2010: Graduated of Master science of Mechanical engineering, Hanoi university of
Science and Technology. I
- Current Job: Head of Subject of Faculty of Mechanical engineering, Sao Do university. * 1 - Research fields: Mechanical engineering, material technology, design of machine and robot.
I - Phone: 0389481166 Email: [email protected]
Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung
- 2011: Graduated of Master science of Mechanical engineering, Hanoi university of
Science and Technology. I
- Current Job: Lecturer of Faculty of Mechanical engineering, Sao Do university.
- Research fields: Surface technology, material technology.
I - Phone: 0788289275 Email: [email protected]
