Affiliation:
1. Department functional surfaces and micromanufacturing Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU Reichenhainer Str. 88 Chemnitz 09126 Germany
Abstract
The article introduces the structure and validation of a kinematic surface simulation model for the replication of laser‐structured surfaces and their impressions after hot embossing. The surface replication is accomplished by the stepwise Boolean intersection of a structured and digitized point ablation with the workpiece. The resulting surface is characterized according to ISO 25178. Resulting from the kinematic simulation principle, the model can be applied to a wide range of material–machine combinations in the field of laser structuring and enables a time–efficient, nanometer‐resolved replication of representative surfaces with a size up to several square millimeters. Within the validation process it was proven that the main surface characteristics can be predicted by the model. Compared to AI approaches and numerical or multiphysical simulations, preliminary studies are only needed to a very small extent. Furthermore, complex influences such as material and temperature‐related properties do not need separate consideration as they are taken into account by the digitized point ablation.