Effects of laser and mechanical cutting modes on the magnetic properties of low and medium Si content nonoriented electrical steels

Nonoriented electrical steels have been cut using pulsed or continuous-laser techniques and mechanical cutting has been used as a reference. The corresponding states of internal stresses at the cut edges have been systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction, for both laser and mechanical cut samples. The characteristic magnetic properties measured at 50 Hz and 1.5 tesla, total weight losses P, coercive field Hc, remanent induction Br, and maximum differential permeability μ, have been determined. Results tend to prove the superiority of mechanical cutting for the larger samples. Whereas higher thermal stresses were induced when using the laser-pulsed mode, magnetic properties were less deteriorated compared with the continuous-laser cutting technique.