Localized indentation and its relationship with overall deformation of thin metal sheets induced by laser peen forming

Author:  Ruoyu Yang and Yongxiang Hu* State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Source:  ICSP14 Milan
Doc ID:  2022083
Year of Publication:  2022
Abstract:  
Abstract Laser peen forming (LPF) is a non-contact incremental forming method that introduces plastic deformation by laser shocks to modify the curvature of components. This study focuses on the localized indentation profiles of thin metal sheets induced by a single shock, and explores their relationship with overall plastic deformation after multiple shocks. LPF experiments with different spot sizes and laser power densities are conducted on thin metal sheets with a thickness of 0.5 mm. Two types of indentation profiles are produced, which are crater and conical profiles, after LPF with spot sizes of 0.8 mm and 4.0 mm. It is found that the indentation profile type remains the same except for the depth value after LPF with different power densities. Then, overall deformation behaviors are also investigated with different process parameters. Downward and upward deformation directions are generated after LPF with two spot sizes, respectively. Two deformation directions are also unchanged via adjusting laser power densities only. The overall deformation behavior is found to have a close relationship with the localized indentation profile. Therefore, an effective method is proposed to predict the overall deformation direction by localized indentation after a single shock. Keywords: Laser peen forming, thin metal sheet, indentation profile, overall deformation.