Laser machining in die making - a modern rapid tooling process

Laser machining is a new very flexible process in mould making especially, for the machining of filigree structures. This process is suitable for machining difficult-to-machine materials, like ceramics, carbide and hardened steel with excellent productivity and surface quality. Laser machining provides a number of advantages over the traditional electro discharge machining (EDM) in die making. It eliminates the expensive manufacture of electrodes, radically shortens the number of operations, reduces lead time from mould design to manufacture and provides excellent productivity and cost efficiency with good surface finish. The paper presents the investigation on surface quality, material removal, when machining with a combination of high-speed milling (HSM) and laser machining (LM) for roughing and finishing, respectively. The research covers the machining of a range of difficult-to-machine metallic and non-metallic materials used in the tool and die making industry. The input and output machining data, collected ill a structured database, provide the key for process optimisation and allow for data update. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.