Laser peen forming for non-thermal 2D shaping and micro adjustment of sensitive metallic components Available to Purchase

Laser peen forming has been carried out on shim steel, with thicknesses ranging between 0.07 and 0.43 mm, using an Nd:YAG (pulse length 8ns, at 10Hz) laser at 1064nm wavelength. The process was found to produce successful forming in all the material tested, using minimal thermal input. The non-thermal aspect of the process is investigated with thermocouple and laser beam interaction experiments, and with finite element analysis (fea) modeling of the process. The finite element analysis is carried out using ABAQUS CAE, a thermal and mechanical model has been generated for both laser thermal forming and a pulsed thermal forming model to replicate laser peen forming. These have been compared to each other and experimental data to back up the model. The results from the laser peen forming experiments have been compared to samples formed using continuous wave thermal forming, and these show that the laser peen forming does not create a heat affected zone, or any changes to the bulk material as seen with laser thermal forming. This indicates that the laser peen forming process is largely athermal, as there is very little heat input into the samples.