Study of the buckling mechanism in laser tube forming

The buckling mechanism of a thin metal tube during laser forming was investigated numerically and experimentally in this study. Metal tubes made of 304 stainless steel were heated by a CO₂ Gaussian laser beam, which induced the buckling phenomenon on the tube surface due to elastic–plastic deformation. This uncoupled thermal–mechanical problem was solved using a three-dimensional finite element method and was subsequently satisfactorily verified with displacement measurements. The transient bending angle and residual stress of the thin metal tube under specific operation conditions were also studied.     

Effects analysis of ambient conditions on process of laser surface melting

In the process of laser surface melting (LSM), ambient conditions around the workpiece have important influences on the processing results. As an effective and feasible method for ambient changing, water-assisted approach can be expected to gain better results such as desired machining goals and reliable service performances. However, the effects of different water ambient on LSM process are needed to be further clarified. To this end, three 3-D transient process models in ambient dry air, water film and water are developed, respectively, using finite element method (FEM); the thermo-mechanical parameters, which depend on temperature, are taken into account and the complex physical essences are integrated. In experimental verification, these three LSM processes on mild steel Q235 are carried on and the computed results are in good agreement with respective measurements. Based on the proposed models, the transient temperature fields and residual stress distributions on workpieces are investigated. The numerical results suggest that the states of temperature and residual stress fields can be improved to different degrees using water film and water ambient.     

激光辐照热力耦合问题的相似性

 由量纲理论出发,分析了激光辐照热力耦合理论的无量纲化基本方程组。在一定的近似条件下,导出了激光辐照热力耦合问题的一般相似性准则,该相似准则不受与温度相关的材料特性的约束。在此基础上给出了强激光辐照充压圆柱壳体热力效应的缩比方法,并对一组实例进行了计算,得到了缩比模型与原型结果几乎完全相似的结论。理论分析与数值计算表明,激光辐照热力耦合问题在合理的近似下满足相似律。     

Experimental study on negative laser bending process of steel foils

In this paper, laser bending experiments were carried out on the stainless foil for producing negative bending angles. BM-dominated laser parameters, such as larger ratio of beam diameter to specimen thickness and lower scanning speed, help to produce negative bending angles. However, the bending direction in BM-dominated process will be uncertain due to the influence of the specimen's initial stress state and surface conditions. For this reason, experiments on stainless foil loaded with controlled pre-stresses were carried out for producing certain negative bending angles. The effect of the pre-stress and laser parameters are investigated experimentally. The experimental results show that negative bending angles could be produced conveniently when the pre-stresses were induced by elastic pre-bending which direction away from the laser beam, and the angles increase remarkably with the pre-stresses increasing. A set of reasonable laser parameters (laser power, scanning speed and beam diameter) for good quality negative bending angles forming were gotten by analyzing the effect of each parameter respectively in the experiments.     

Flattening of sheet metal by laser forming

Laser forming is a thermal process for deformation of sheet metal by thermal stress. In this paper, the technique of laser forming is applied to flatten a protruded distortion on the sheet metal, and the mechanism of flattening is investigated experimentally. The protrusion of some height is intentionally produced by pressing a steel ball on a flat sheet metal. The laser beam was irradiated at the area of distortion, and as a result, the protrusion disappeared and an almost flat sheet metal could be obtained.     

Improvements to laser forming through process control refinements

Laser forming is a process that uses the energy of relatively high powered lasers to cause permanent deformation to components by inducing localised thermal stresses. It is envisaged that this material processing technique will find a number of commercial applications. This paper briefly discusses laser forming and the development of a basic process monitoring and control system used to overcome variability problems due to the complex nature of the lasers themselves and the manner in which they interact with material. It then goes on to show how the basic control system was modified, using increased feedback data sampling, time delays and a modified control algorithm which takes account of the forming rate in addition to the error. The effect of these developments is then illustrated by a series of tests which show the modifications significantly improve process tolerances.     

Experimental investigation on laser flattening of sheet metal

The purpose of this research is to establish the technique of laser flattening and to consider the fundamental mechanism. The thermal stress produced by heating with a laser beam is used to make a flat sheet from a sheet metal of protruded distortion. Three kinds of protrusions are chosen as the typical protruded distortion; point protrusion, line protrusion and face protrusion. For point protrusion, laser irradiation along the circular path is effective when the height of protrusion is large, and the laser irradiation along the radial path is effective when it is small. For line protrusion, laser beam is irradiated along the short straight path whose direction is normal to the centerline of the protrusion. For face protrusion, the height decreases from 1-0.1 mm by the laser irradiation along the circular path. The residual stress at the convex surface of a point protrusion on the sheet metal changes from a large compressive stress to a small tensile stress by the laser irradiation.     

Temperature gradient mechanism in laser forming of thin plates

To obtain further insight into the deformation of a plate in the laser forming process, the temperature gradient mechanism (TGM) is studied. Through the investigation, it can be found that, under the processing conditions of TGM, the plate not only bends about the x-axis but also about the y-axis. An analytical model estimate of the bending angle about the y-axis is constructed based on the theories of heat transfer and the mechanics of elastoplasticity. Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the deformation of the plate about the y-axis by choosing the different process parameters. The analytically based estimate is used to suggest suitable starting values for the simulation process of calculated results. The study of the bending about the y-axis may describe more fully the deformation of a plate, which is helpful in high-precision forming.     

Mold-free fs laser shock micro forming and its plastic deformation mechanism

Mold-free micro forming using a fs laser was investigated by producing micro pits on pure aluminum foil. The characteristics of the pit profiles, their forming mechanisms, and the influences of some important parameters on the pit profiles were investigated by measuring the profiles and the surface morphologies of the pits. The microstructures of the shocked aluminum foil were observed through transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Pits obtained through fs laser shock forming are composed of two regions: the directly impacted region and the plastically bending region. Diameters of the former strongly depend on laser beam sizes. The plastically bending region has a negative effect on forming precision. Shorter laser pulse width is beneficial for narrowing the range of the plastically bending region and enhancing the forming precision. Using a single-side clamping mode can also narrow the plastically bending region through buffering the local bending. Fs laser-induced microstructures are characteristic of fragmentary short dislocation lines and parallel slip lines, which are the results of the ultrafast and ultrahigh pressure loading. The localization of the fs laser shock forming induced by ultrafast loading can enhance the precision of mold-free forming.     

数值模拟激光加载L

采用ABAQUS有限元仿真软件对激光加载L     

An analytical model based on the similarity in temperature distributions in laser forming

Laser forming of a metal plate involves a complex thermoplastic process. To accurately control the deformation of a metal plate, its temperature distribution must be obtained first. In this paper, three-dimensional finite element method simulations of the temperature field that account for the temperature dependence of the thermal properties of the materials were carried out. By defining a dimensionless temperature T* and a special Y-coordinate Y*, we found that temperature distributions in the Y′ direction are similar for different thicknesses. An analytical model of the temperature of the high-temperature zone in the Y′ direction is derived for the first time based on the similarity of temperature distributions and data obtained from regression analysis. The comparison of analytical and numerical results shows good agreement with respect to temperature distributions. This investigation is of significance for the prediction of a deformation field in future works.     

Estimation of laser solid forming process based on temperature measurement

By using a moving disc heat source model, an analytical model was developed to describe laser solid forming (LSF) process with the feedback of the surface temperature of the molten pool, which can be used to estimate the geometric characterizations (width and height) of the clad layer rapidly. An on-line temperature measurement system was established and some single-pass cladding experiments were conducted while the molten pool temperature was monitored. It was found that the estimated geometric characterizations agreed well with the experimental results. In addition, the power consumed by conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation and absorption during LSF were also estimated by the model. It was shown that the majority of the total absorbed power was conducted to the substrate. The effective model can not only be used to optimize the processing parameters but also potentially applied to the real-time feedback control.     

数值模拟激光加载L_2铝板材高速成形瞬态响应

采用ABAQUS有限元仿真软件对激光加载L2铝板材高速成形进行数值模拟,研究了单脉冲激光冲击下成形的瞬态响应过程,获得了激光加载冲击成形过程中位移、速度、应变及应变率等特征量的变化特点.模拟表明,冲击后靶材中心区域发生明显塑性变形,变形截面呈锥形.高速成形过程中,金属板材首先发生振荡幅度非常大的快速弹性变形,其后进入减幅振荡直至静态,激光冲击成形时间在毫秒量级.板材不同节点的位移变化趋势相同,靠近中心区域位移大,边界区域位移小.成形中板材的中心区域速度最大达3 700m/s,变形过程前2μs内应变率急剧变化,最大达104~105 s-1量级.     

Feedback control for 2D free curve laser forming

Forming sheet metal by laser-induced thermal stress (laser forming) is considered to have a great potential for rapid prototyping and other flexible manufacturing. However, the previous researches have mainly focused on analyzing the phenomena of the forming process. In 2D free curve laser forming, a feedback control scheme for each single bending angle was suggested in this study by incorporating a statistical method and the effect of the remaining errors was discussed. Methods of compensating for the remaining errors were proposed and analyzed by computer simulations. Experiments verified the applicability of the proposed methods.     

Experimental investigation on: Laser shock micro-forming process using the mask and flexible pad

A forming process called the mask and flexible pad laser shock forming was proposed to fabricate the micro-features on the copper foil. In this process, the mask and laser beam were used as rigid punches. Shock waves induced by plasma were used as the source of loading and plasticine was used as a flexible pad. This was a micro scale and high strain rate forming process and the traditional forming method with micro-mold was changed. In the experiment, surface morphology of formed parts was represented and it was found that the mask played a significant role in the forming process. In order to understand the forming process in the experiment, process parameters, including laser pulse energy, numbers of laser pulse and grain size, were analyzed. The experimental results showed that different parameters had different effects on formed parts. The surface quality and the thickness distribution of formed parts were investigated. It was found that formed parts could keep good surface quality after laser shocking and the reasons were explored. The thickness distribution was measured and the thickness thinning rate was calculated. There was no local tightening or rupture in the forming area. In this paper, the micro-features could be obtained on metallic foils and the method of mold-free was proved to be feasible.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of laser shock synchronous welding and forming of Copper/Aluminum

A novel laser shock synchronous welding and forming method is introduced, which utilizes laser-induced shock waves to accelerate the flyer plate towards the base plate to achieve the joining of dissimilar metals and forming in a specific shape of mold. The samples were obtained with different laser energies and standoff distances. The surface morphology and roughness of the samples were greatly affected by the laser energy and standoff distances. Fittability was investigated to examine the forming accuracy. The results showed that the samples replicate the mold features well. Straight and wavy interfaces with un-bonded regions in the center were observed through metallographic analysis. Moreover, Energy Disperse Spectroscopy analysis was conducted on the welding interface, and the results indicated that a short-distance elemental diffusion emerged in the welding interface. The nanoindentation hardness of the welding regions was measured to evaluate the welding interface. In addition, the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method was employed to simulate the welding and forming process. It was shown that different standoff distances significantly affected the size of the welding regions and interface waveform characteristics. The numerical analysis results indicated that the opposite shear stress direction and effective plastic strain above a certain threshold are essential to successfully obtain welding and forming workpiece.     

Laser shock forming of aluminum sheet: Finite element analysis and experimental study

Laser shock forming (LSF) is characterized in non-contact load, high pressure and high strain ratio. This new forming process using laser-induced shock pressure can shape sheet metal without complicated forming equipments. The know-how of the forming process is essential to efficiently and accurately control the deformation of sheet metal. Experiment and numerical simulation are the important approaches for forming analysis. Taken the aluminum sheets with different thickness as the specimen, the finite element (FE) analysis for LSF was performed. In the paper, Q-switch Nd:YAG Laser with a maximum power density of 4.5 GW/cm² was used. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experiment. It showed that the formed aluminum sheets were in the form of concavo-convex. Finally, the transient and static deformations of thin sheet metal under specific operation conditions were also studied.     

A Prototype laser forming system

A non-contact laser forming (LF) demonstrator system was developed to demonstrate the process on a large primitive shape. The research that led to this development is described in this article. A fundamental study was carried out which examined the effects of laser-forming parameters on tokens of an aluminium and a titanium alloy. Energy, geometrical and metallurgical influences were investigated and are summarised here. Results of the study showed that LF of these aerospace materials is possible using a large operating envelope of laser-processing parameters. A range of metallurgical effects resulted on the titanium alloy and these are traced here. Depending on how the energy input was supplied to the plate surface, various geometrical effects resulted. These effects are discussed. Using the knowledge gathered from the fundamental study, a prototype LF system was built. The components of the system and the forming of a primitive shape on it are discussed. Conclusions from the study indicate that the future work lies in the development of the demonstrator for primitive 3-D shapes and the integration of a knowledge-based system.     

Experiment study of powder flow feed behavior of laser solid forming

A photographic system for the powder feed process of laser solid forming (LSF) was developed using a high speed camera, and the powder feed behaviors (the particle speed and the powder flow concentration) were described based on the powder flow images. The influences of the powder feed parameters and the distance below the nozzle exit plane on the powder feed behaviors were discussed, and the influences of the powder feed behaviors on the deposited layer quality were also investigated. It can be seen that the smooth finish of the deposited layer surface was improved remarkably by increasing the particle speed, and the deposited layer height decreases with the increase of the particle speed. It can also be found that the variation of the deposited layer height with the increase of the distance between the deposited surface and the nozzle exit plane is similar to that of the powder mass concentrations on the vertical symmetry axis.