Finite element simulation of laser tube bending: Effect of scanning schemes on bending angle, distortions and stress distribution

Laser forming has received considerable attention in recent years. Within laser forming, tube bending is an important industrial activity, with applications in critical engineering systems like micro-machines, heat exchangers, hydraulic systems, boilers, etc. Laser tube bending utilizes the thermal stresses generated during laser scanning to achieve the desired bends. The parameters to control the process are usually laser power, beam diameter, scanning velocity and number of scans. Recently axial scanning has been used for tube bending instead of commonly used circumferential scans. However the comparison between the scanning schemes has involved dissimilar laser beam geometries with circular beam used for circumferential scanning and a rectangular beam for the axial scan. Thermal stresses generated during laser scanning are strongly dependent upon laser beam geometry and scanning direction and hence it is difficult to isolate the contribution made by these two variables. It has recently been established at the Corrosion and Protection Centre, University of Manchester, that corrosion properties of material during laser forming are affected by the number of laser passes. Depending on the material, the corrosion behaviour is either adversely or favourably affected by number of passes. Thus it is of great importance to know how different scanning schemes would affect laser tube bending. Moreover, any scanning scheme which results in greater bending angle would eliminate the need for higher number of passes, making the process faster. However, it is not only the bending angle which is critical, distortions in other planes are also extremely important. Depending on the use of the final product, unwanted distortions may be the final selection criteria. This paper investigates the effect of scanning direction on laser tube bending. Finite-element modelling has been used for the study of the process with some results also validated by experiments.     

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.     

脉冲Nd:YAG激光熔覆修复塑料模具工艺参数的优化

 激光器的电压、电流、脉冲宽度、脉冲频率与激光的扫描速度、光斑直径等工艺参数直接影响着脉冲Nd:YAG激光熔覆质量。为了简化工艺调整过程，提出了重叠率的概念，并进行了理论推导，建立了重叠率与脉冲频率、激光扫描速度、激光光斑直径相互关系的方程式。利用预置法在低碳钢基体上熔覆Ni基合金粉末,获得了2组最佳工艺参数，即单脉冲能量、重叠率分别为6.7 J,97.4%和21 J,69.4%。研究表明：在单脉冲能量和重叠率一定的条件下，改变电流、脉宽、脉冲频率及熔覆速度不会影响熔覆质量。     

A study of the effect of laser beam geometries on laser bending of sheet metal by buckling mechanism

Laser beam forming has emerged as a new and very promising technique to form sheet metal by thermal residual stresses. The objective of this work is to investigate numerically the effect of rectangular beam geometries, with different transverse width to length aspect ratio, on laser bending process of thin metal sheets, which is dominated by buckling mechanism. In this paper, a comprehensive thermal and structural finite element (FE) analysis is conducted to investigate the effect that these laser beam geometries have on the process and on the final product characteristics. To achieve this, temperature distributions, deformations, plastic strains, stresses, and residual stresses produced by different beam geometries are compared. The results suggest that beam geometries play an important role in the resulting temperature distributions on the workpiece. Longer beam dimensions in the scanning direction (in relation to its lateral dimension) produce higher temperatures due to longer beam–material interaction time. This affects the bending direction and the magnitude of the bending angles. Higher temperatures produce more plastic strains and hence higher deformation. This shows that the temperature-dependent yield stress plays a more dominant role in the deformation of the plate than the spread of the beam in the transverse direction. Also, longer beams have a tendency for the scanning line to curve away from its original position to form a concave shape. This is caused by buckling which develops tensile plastic strains along both ends of the scanning path. The buckling effect produces the opposite curve profile; convex along the tranverse direction and concave along the scanning path.     

Analysis of the formation and evolution of oriented microstructures on laser ablated silicon

A theoretical approach and qualitative analysis of the changes induced on the surface morphology and the formation of microstructures on silicon targets irradiated by excimer laser are presented. This study is based on theoretical principles of the laser ablation process, in particular, on the analysis of the contribution of the laser energy density, which involves the laser beam parameters and also the physical properties of the target material. For different laser incident angles, the formation of micro-columns oriented towards the laser incident direction is explained. Moreover, numerical simulations and ablation experiments carried out with an excimer laser corroborate the theoretical analysis.     

Effect of different heating methods on deformation of metal plate under upsetting mechanism in laser forming

In a laser forming process, different forming mechanisms have different deformation behaviors. The aim of laser forming is to acquire plane strain under an upsetting mechanism, while a plate undergoes a small bending deformation. In some industrial applications, the bending strain should not occur. To achieve high-precision forming, the deformation behaviors of a metal plate when an upsetting mechanism plays a dominant role are studied in the paper. Several heating methods are proposed to reduce the plane strain difference along the thickness direction and little bending deformation resulting from a small temperature difference between the top and bottom surfaces of the plate. The results show that negligible bending deformation and a uniform plastic plane strain field can be obtained by simultaneously heating the top and bottom surfaces with the same process parameters. A conventional scanning method needs a larger spot diameter and slower scanning speed under the upsetting mechanism, but a smaller spot diameter and quicker scanning speed may be selected using the simultaneous heating method, which can greatly widen the potential scope of process parameters.     

Real-time adjustment of optical transmitter by laser beam parameter measurement based on two linear array CCD scanning imaging

In this paper, we present a real-time measurement and adjustment method, based on scanning imaging, for optical transmitter which emits 90° × 2° linear laser beam. This novel optical arrangement consists of an area array CCD and two linear array CCDs. According to the relationship between the positions, angles of transmitter optical components and the beam parameters of emergent laser, the system can help us to decide the real-time adjustment of optical transmitter by measuring the related beam parameters. In order to improve the measurement speed, avoid occlusion and ensure simultaneous measurement, the two linear array CCDs are placed at near field, far field and separated by a definite angle to acquire the beam intensity distribution through suitable nonlinear correction during the process of scanning. After a complete scanning, the beam parameters and the spot image are acquired by continuous measurement. The proof-of-principle experiments showed that the measurement results were in agreement with the analysis. The presented method was applied to direct fast adjustment for higher quality on the assembly of the optical transmitter. The presented procedure is highly advantageous for diverse laser beam emitted from the optical transmitter, such as elliptic, linear and so on.     

大功率光纤激光焊焊缝跟踪偏差红外检测方法

精确控制激光束使其始终对准并跟踪焊缝是保证激光焊接质量的前提.针对大功率(激光功率10 kW)光纤激光焊接304型不锈钢紧密对接焊缝(间隙为0-0.1 mm),研究一种基于红外热像的焊缝跟踪偏差检测新方法. 采用红外传感高速摄像机摄取焊接区域熔池红外动态热像,分析激光束对准和偏离焊缝中心时的熔池温度分布和红外辐射特性,以熔池匙孔形变参数和热堆积效应参数作为激光束与焊缝中心偏差检测特征值,通过图像识别技术研究和分析特征值与焊缝偏差之间的关系. 激光焊接试验结果表明,熔池匙孔形变参数和热堆积效应参数与焊缝偏差 关键词： 大功率光纤激光焊 焊缝跟踪偏差 红外热像 检测     

Development of irradiation strategies for free curve laser forming

Although forming sheet metal by laser-induced thermal stresses (laser forming) has been extensively studied, the research has mainly focused on a single angle forming process. The task of free curve laser forming of sheet metal is to determine a set of process parameters such as laser scanning paths, laser power and scanning speed that will make a given shape. Two methods were used for generating the laser scanning paths and the bending angles of each path. Each method was analyzed by computer simulation and the two methods were compared. Experiments verified the applicability of the proposed methods.     

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of AISI 304 to AISI 420 stainless steels

The technique to weld AISI 304 stainless steel to AISI 420 stainless steel with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser has been investigated. The main objective of this study was to determine the influence of the laser beam position, with respect to the joint, on weld characteristics. Specimens were welded with the laser beam incident on the joint and moved 0.1 and 0.2 mm on either side of the joint. The joints were examined in an optical microscope for cracks, pores and to determine the weld geometry. The microstructure of the weld and the heat affected zones were observed in a scanning electron microscope. An energy dispersive spectrometer, coupled to the scanning electron microscope, was used to determine variations in (weight %) the main chemical elements across the fillet weld. Vickers microhardness testing and tensile testing were carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the weld. The results of the various tests and examinations enabled definition of the best position for the incident laser beam with respect to the joint, for welding together the two stainless steels.     

Statistical analysis of parameter effects on bending angle in laser forming process by pulsed Nd:YAG laser

In recent years, laser application has been introduced for bending and forming as new processes in manufacturing. The capability of laser bending demands more studies to recognize parameters influencing bending angle of sheet metals. In this study the effects of parameters such as material, laser power, beam diameter, scan velocity, sheet thickness, pass number and pulse duration on bending angle were studied by FEM initially and then followed by experiments. Furthermore, the Taguchi experimental design method was employed to pin point parameters, which significantly affect the bending process of laser bending of St12 and 304 alloy steels, which have a wide range of applications in products manufacturing. A regression analysis was conducted and a closed form equation was derived. The closed form equation can be used in industry to determine which process parameters (factors) enhance the bending angle in laser bending process.     

Proton angular distribution research by a new angle-resolved proton energy spectrometer

The proton spectral and angular distributions simultaneously within the target normal direction and laser propagation direction by using an angle-resolved proton energy spectrometer are studied.For the protons generated in the interactions of 100 fs,800nm laser pulses with aluminum foil targets,the deviations of proton beam centers of different energies from the target normal direction towards the laser propagation direction are different.This is probably because of the toroidal magnetic fields generated at the rear target surface,which deflect protons transversely.As a result,protons in low energy range have large deviation angles,protons in middle energy range have the smallest deviation angles,while protons in high energy tail have large deviation angles.     

Characteristics of ultrafast K line hard x—ray source from femtosecond terawatt laser—produced plasma

Theoretical studies and analytical scalings were carried out to find the optimized laser parameters and target conditions so that ultrashort hard x-ray pulses and high x-ray power could be achieved.The dependence of laser intensity and wavelength on the yield of K-shell x-ray emission was studied.We propose an optimal design for a foil target for producing high-yield hard x-ray pulses of customizing duration.     

Transient deformation of thin metal sheets during pulsed laser forming

The transient deformation of thin grade 304 stainless steel metal sheets heated by a single pulse of a CO₂ laser beam is simulated in this paper. The laser beam is assumed to be line-shaped and the problem is treated as three-dimensional thermo-elastoplastic. The temperature field, deformation pattern, stress–strain states and the residual stress distribution of the specimens have been calculated numerically and the transient response of the bending angle has been validated by experiments. Good agreement has been obtained between the numerical simulation and the experiments under various operating conditions. The numerical study reveals that a high temperature gradient exists for a positive bending angle and a low one for a negative angle. It transpires that the mechanisms of pulsed laser forming are dependent mainly upon the laser power, the heating time, the clamping arrangement, as well as the geometry, the thermal properties and the original stress states of the specimen.     

相对传播的双脉冲激光与薄膜靶作用产生的强单色谐波

研究了相对传播的双脉冲激光与薄膜靶的作用,观察到很强的谐波产生.其物理图像是:圆偏振高对比度强激光脉冲作用于薄膜靶,由光压推动产生的高密度等离子体靶向前运动,同时由于电荷分离场的作用,使得离子束和电子束在纵向上都有好的聚束,从而产生以相对论速度向前运动的等离子体镜;反向入射一个探测光到已被加速的等离子体镜上,由多普勒频移产生强的单色N次谐波,探测光脉冲被"压缩"至原来的1/N.还讨论了激光和等离子体参数对等离子体镜的运动和谐波级次的影响,以及相对论运动等离子体镜的稳定性对谐波的影响.     

Writing of two-dimensional crystal curved lines at the surface of Sm2O3-Bi2O3-B2O3 glass by samarium atom heat processing

Two-dimensional crystal curved lines consisting of the nonlinear optical Sm_xBi_1−xBO₃ phase are fabricated at the surface of 8Sm₂O₃·37Bi₂O₃·55B₂O₃ glass by continuous wave Nd:YAG laser (wavelength: 1064 nm) irradiation (samarium atom heat processing) with a power of ∼0.9 W and a laser scanning speed of 5 μm/s. The curved lines with bending angles of 0-90° or with sine-shapes are written by just changing the laser scanning direction. The polarized micro-Raman scattering spectra for the line after bending are the same as those for the line before bending, indicating that the crystal plane of Sm_xBi_1−xBO₃ crystals to the crystal growth direction might be maintained even after the change in the laser scanning direction. It is found from laser scanning microscope observations that the crystal lines at the surface are swelled out smoothly, giving a height of about 10 μm.     

Optimization of hybrid laser – TIG welding of 316LN steel using response surface methodology (RSM)

In the present study, the hybrid laser – TIG welding parameters for welding of 316LN austenitic stainless steel have been investigated by combining a pulsed laser beam with a TIG welding heat source at the weld pool. Laser power, pulse frequency, pulse duration, TIG current were presumed as the welding process parameters whereas weld bead width, weld cross-sectional area and depth of penetration (DOP) were considered as the process responses. Central composite design was used to complete the design matrix and welding experiments were conducted based on the design matrix. Weld bead measurements were then carried out to generate the dataset. Multiple regression models correlating the process parameters with the responses have been developed. The accuracy of the models were found to be good. Then, the desirability approach optimization technique was employed for determining the optimum process parameters to obtain the desired weld bead profile. Validation experiments were then carried out from the determined optimum process parameters. There was good agreement between the predicted and measured values.     

CO2 laser heating of surfaces: Melt pool formation at surface

The melt pool formation during the heating of titanium and steel surfaces by a moving CO₂ laser beam is examined. The repetitive pulses are introduced in the simulations and the Marangoni effect in the melt pool is incorporated in the model study. The influence of laser scanning speed and the laser intensity parameter on the melt pool size is also considered. The enthalpy–porosity method is adopted to account for the phase change in the irradiated spot. It is found that the influence of laser scanning speed on the melt pool size is considerable, which is more pronounced for laser beam parameter β=1. The melt pool size is smaller for stainless steel as compared to that corresponding to titanium.     

Production of low-emittance MeV protons by localized electrons

Energetic proton beam generation and the suppression of transverse proton beam divergence are investigated in this paper. In laser-foil interactions, foil ions are accelerated by an ambipolar field created by accelerated high-energy electrons. The high-energy electrons are generated by the ponderomotive force of an intense laser. When an intense laser illuminates a hydrogen foil target, the electrons are strongly accelerated longitudinally, and a localized negative electrostatic potential is generated at the opposite side of the laser illumination. Foil protons are accelerated longitudinally and at the same time extracted to the central axis of the laser by the localized potential in the transverse direction. Consequently, transverse proton divergence is suppressed and a low-emittance MeV proton beam is produced.