Leather is a material that has great commercial demand, as many products, including gloves, footwear, fashion and luxury automobile interiors are manufactured out of it. Cutting leather using a blade yields the greatest results from a structural standpoint. Die cutting (punching with a sharp-edged die) alters the structure of leather, which manifests as a jamming of the top layer of leather. Laser cutting induces carbonization on the machined edge due to a heat effect. This effect is especially noticeable in light-colored leathers [
1]. The process is precise and does not cause the cloth to stretch as hand cutting would. Buffalo leather, which is commonly used to manufacture accessories, as well as clothing, was used as a specimen [
2]. Due to the heat effect of the laser beam, cutting leather with a laser produces a carbonized cut edge. This is not the case with mechanical cutting techniques. Due to the thermal effect, laser cutting creates a minor carbonization of the cut edge. This look is particularly noticeable on lighter leather colors, such as white or yellow. This impact must be taken into account when considering laser cutting. Laser cutting leaves very imperceptible markings on leather, and the procedure gives the material a completed appearance. Comparing the edges of laser-cut and mechanically cut leather indicated that laser cutting induces carbonization of the cut edge, which was the most notable distinction between cutting methods. Depending on the color of the leather, the thermal impact of the laser beam on the edge of the cut varied. Laser-cut edges of dark, and especially brown leather, are deemed ideal for laser cutting, although laser-cut edges of light-colored leathers are immediately discernible. In general, laser cutting is the most suited method for cutting complicated geometries because of its great flexibility, ease of setup and nesting, rapid geometry changes, and excellent adaptability to diverse material characteristics (such as thickness). These characteristics make laser an interesting design tool. In contrast, the great flexibility, ease of setup and nesting, as well as the rapid cutting rates and consistent cutting quality, suggest industrial applications. The simple applicability of nesting and cutting sequence software in conjunction with laser technology is an additional factor indicating possible industrial uses. Carbonized cut edge may, however, be a limiting issue in this instance. After laser cutting, the removal of carbonized markings and smoke odor necessitates particular procedures that are unsuitable for mass manufacturing. In conclusion, artworks, design, and prototypes are the areas where laser technology’s advantages may be completely leveraged, while downsides can be avoided with very easy steps. A digital microscope was used to capture the contour edges of leather samples with high resolution. As a result it was observed that the buffalo skin had minute wavy pores [
3]. In view of this, a scanning electron microscope (SEM)-based visual analysis of leather was developed [
4]. The objective of this research is to analyze and quantify the process of cutting [
5] a leather specimen. It was found that several toxic gases and substances were produced during leather processing, which may affect the operator’s health [
6]. The physical–chemical analysis of leather during cutting can inform the waste elimination while cutting leather specimens [
7]. The leather power wastage during the manufacturing of products has to be reduced as much as possible [
8]. The developed product should be free from harmful and toxic substances [
9]. The laser wastage can be eliminated using laser beam machining (LBM) process [
10]. LBM is an unconventional thermal-process-assisted advanced machining that utilizes laser irradiation in the form of light to perform the operation. This machining technique makes use of a laser beam, which is a coherent high-power density light capable of cutting several metals or nonmetals. This approach uses laser radiation in the form of light to remove material from a workpiece surface through heating, melting, and vaporizing the material involved in the process. In this proposed method, diode laser cutting was applied to leather cutting [
11]. This study aims to give extensive information on optimal power levels, cutting speeds and cut edge quality. CO
2 laser cutting machines are commonly used to cut leather materials [
12]. Semiconductor diode laser devices are extremely essential and have emerged as preferred instruments for a wide range of material processing applications due to their efficiency and affordable operating costs [
13]. They are becoming more significant in industrial production processes, such as soldering, welding, hardening and cutting. Operational expenses can be drastically reduced with the use of diode lasers [
14] for leather cutting. For diode lasers, maintenance is inexpensive and the predicted lifespan is long [
15]. The major benefit of diode laser cutting over traditional laser cutting is the reduced optical power demand in relation to the workpiece thickness [
16]. In the field of industrial laser cutting, it is widely recognized that the orientation of the laser beam has a substantial influence on the performance. There was a great deal of research on the linear and circular polarization states of carbon dioxide lasers [
17]. The evolution of solid-state laser technology enabled the emergence of various optical approaches for polarization control of high-intensity laser beams [
18]. It is vital to explore the influence of process parameters on response variables in order to enhance the efficiency of the laser beam machining process [
19]. The process of interaction between the power diode laser and leather substrate involving carbonization was examined. The influence of laser cutting process parameters on cut quality was explored using this approach. Carbon particles produced during the burning of leather, which is a biomaterial, creates a layer along the cut in the carbonization zone. It is crucial to minimize this impact to maximize the product quality. It is essential to improve the health and safety of the operators and the environment throughout any machining operation. Laser power diodes minimize the carbonization impact on leather cutting because of their more controlled energy [
20]. There is no standard technique available to quantify the carbonization on leather cutting [
21].
From the detailed literature, only few studies have computed the impacts of carbonization on the surface of machined leather after the cutting process. No research has been available on the leather surface analysis using SEM and Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR). The use of laser diode technology in leather cutting has not yet been thoroughly investigated and examined. Hence, an endeavor was proposed using a machine vision system to study the effect of laser power diode on carbonization in leather. The carbon-related elements on the machined buffalo leather were identified using FTIR.