Laser punching of soft magnetic Fe-based amorphous ribbons

Soft-magnetic Fe-based amorphous materials are indispensable in electronic components. However, traditional processing methods (mechanical punching or wire cutting) degrade the amorphous structure, introduce stress, and are inefficient. To overcome these limitations, we introduce a precision processing technique for the Fe-based amorphous ribbons, namely laser punching. We compare two laser types: the picosecond pulse ultraviolet (PS-UV) laser, representing "cold" lasers, and the continuous-wave infrared (CW-IR) laser, epitomizing "hot" lasers. Our results demonstrate that the PS-UV laser can produce intricate geometries with minimal thermal or stress-induced effects. In contrast, the CW-IR laser induces nano-crystallization and crinkling due to heavy thermal effect. As an example, we successfully craft an amorphous motor stator using the PS-UV laser-processed ribbons, which exhibits considerably reduced iron losses compared to that fabricated with CW-IR laser. The reduction in iron loss and enhanced efficiency underscores the potential of PS-UV laser punching as a promising method for manufacturing amorphous motors.