Influence of remote laser cutting on magnetic loss and mechanical properties in 0.2 mm silicon steel

Energy loss due to eddy current generation is a significant factor in reduced efficiency of electrical machines, therefore motor cores with thinner sheets are required due to their effect in reducing eddy currents. However, reducing the thickness of laminations is challenging due to the high tooling costs in blanking due to the small tolerances required, whilst other methods such as conventional laser cutting are too slow to be commercially viable. In this paper the influence of remote laser cutting on thin electrical steel sheets (Cogent/Tata Steel NO20 3.2% Si) has been investigated on the tensile strain to fracture, fatigue life, edge hardness, and energy loss in an AC magnetisation cycle for two laser power levels. The laser power has found to have no statistically significant influence on the bulk mechanical properties of the material, but significantly affects the measured specific loss. The latter was associated with the increased edge hardness at higher laser powers. Based on the parameters selected it is highly questionable whether RLC offers a viable method for lamination cutting, significant refinement of the laser parameters and/or the use an alternative laser such as an ultra-fast pulsed laser is required to be competitive with existing methods. Additionally, it is shown that energy loss increases linearly with respect to length of the cut edge - to the minimum cut spacing tested of 6 mm. These results can be used to optimise laser parameters to reduce the degradation of magnetic properties by decreasing laser power where possible.