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.     

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.     

An experimental investigation of underwater pulsed laser forming

Laser forming is a new forming technology, which deforms a metal sheet using laser-induced thermal stresses. This paper presents an experimental investigation of pulsed laser forming of stainless steel in water and air. The effects of cooling conditions on bending angle and morphology of the heat affected zone (HAZ) are studied. It is shown that the case of the top surface in air and the bottom surface immersed in water has the greatest bending angle based on the forming mechanism of TGM. The water layer above the sample decreases the coupling energy, leading to a small bending angle. For a thin water thickness (1 mm), the water effects on the HAZ are limited. As water layer thickness increases (5 mm), the concave shape of the HAZ is more remarkable and irregular because the shock waves by high laser energy heating water are fully developed. However, the area and the depth of the HAZ become less significant when water thickness is 10 mm due to the long pathway that laser undergoes.     

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。     

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.     

Rebuilding of metal components with laser cladding forming

Laser cladding forming (LCF) is a novel powerful tool for the repairing of metal components. Rebuilding of V-grooves on medium carbon steel substrates has been carried out with laser cladding forming technique using stainless steel powder as the cladding material. Microstructure of the deposited layers has been characterized using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDAX), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Mechanical properties of the rebuilt V-groove samples have been evaluated by tensile and impacting tests and microhardness measurement. Experimental results show that good fusion bonding between the rebuilt layers and the substrate has been formed, and the microstructure of the cladding layers is mainly composed of fine, dense and defect-free epitaxial columnar dendrites. Due to the effect of grain size refinement, the tensile strength, impacting toughness, elongation and microhardness of the rebuilt samples have been greatly enhanced compared to those of the substrate. Microhardness is also very uniform throughout the rebuilt regions. With the growth of the deposited layers, the microhardness increases gradually. The good ductility of the deposited regions is verified by the SEM fracture analysis.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

CO2 laser beam modulating for surface texturing machining

Laser texturing is a novel technique that may be used to texture a cold roller in the process of manufacturing high quality steel sheets. With the aim of improving the quality of the textured roller by using a CO₂ laser, a new laser beam modulating device is proposed. An optical beam expander with a fast rotating chopper system is designed. The laser pulse is split into two parts by the chopper blades; one is the preheating pulse that is reflected onto optical loop mirrors; the other is the directly transmitted pulse that creates the craters at the preheated spots. The preheating beam focus spot size and position can be adjusted. The focusing characteristics and optical parameter compensation for the flying optics are investigated. The heat transfer and melt process of laser texturing are numerically simulated. The effects of the double pulses on the texturing are analyzed. The effect of preheating the sample ahead of the laser texturing pulse is examined. The surface profile and bump hardness show improvements by using this approach.     

Surface characteristic of stainless steel sheet after pulsed laser forming

Laser forming is a non-contact and die-less forming technique of producing bending, spatial forming, modifying and adjusting the curvature of the metallic sheet by using the controlled laser beam energy. One of the problems in laser forming is controlling the characteristic of laser scanned surface. The aim of the investigation is to explore the relation between the surface behaviors of heat affected zone (HAZ) scanned by pulse laser and the pulse parameters of the laser. This paper illustrated the fundamental theory of pulsed laser affected material, and pays attention to the microstructure, micro-hardness and the anticorrosion in the HAZ generated by the laser scanning. Metallographic microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), micro-hardness testing system are used to examine the surface characteristics. The work presented in this paper is beneficial to understand the mechanism of pulse laser affect to materials and improve controlling the surface behaviors scanned by pulsed laser.     

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.     

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.     

Effect of laser energy on the deformation behavior in microscale laser bulge forming

Microscale laser bulge forming is a high strain rate microforming method using high-amplitude shock wave pressure induced by pulsed laser irradiation. The process can serve as a rapidly established and high precision technique to impress microfeatures on thin sheet metals and holds promise of manufacturing complex miniaturized devices. The present paper investigated the forming process using both numerical and experimental methods. The effect of laser energy on microformability of pure copper was discussed in detail. A 3D measuring laser microscope was adopted to measure deformed regions under different laser energy levels. The deformation measurements showed that the experimental and numerical results were in good agreement. With the verified simulation model, the residual stress distribution at different laser energy was predicted and analyzed. The springback was found as a key factor to determine the distribution and magnitude of the compressive residual stress. In addition, the absorbent coating and the surface morphology of the formed samples were observed through the scanning electron microscope. The observation confirmed that the shock forming process was non-thermal attributed to the protection of the absorbent coating.     

Mechanics and energy analysis on molten pool spreading during laser solid forming

This paper studies the issue that the molten pool width gradually increases under some conditions during laser solid forming (LSF), which can decrease the shape and dimension accuracy of LSFed component to a large extent. By using the statics analysis method and calculating the interfacial tensions at the solid-liquid-gas triple point of molten pool, the proposed two-dimensional (2D) cross-sectional model of single deposition layer illustrates qualitatively that the deposition width would increase with the increasing pool temperature at a certain powder feeding rate, which we called the pool spread behavior here. Meanwhile, by calculating the maximum equilibrium contact angle for keeping solid-liquid-gas triple point balance, it is found that the molten pool is solidified during non-equilibrium state. Furthermore, in order to control the pool temperature and decrease pool spread amount, the optimal match of pool energy and mass inputs is determined for obtaining an optimum balance between the energy input and deposition efficiencies.