Abstract
Laser forming is a powerful tool for fabricating complicated shapes economically. The pattern of laser movement (irradiating scheme) has an essential effect on the shaped form. In this article, the forming of a saddle-shaped surface will be investigated experimentally by the laser forming process. A spiral irradiating scheme is implemented to manufacture a saddle-shaped surface. The main idea of this study is the investigation of the simultaneous variations of the process parameters and their effect on the curvature of the final part. The process parameters of the study are the spiral pitch, number of spiral passes, and movement pattern (In-to-Out or reversely Out-to-In scanning path). The response surface methodology is selected for experimentation. The measurement of the deformation results shows that the deformations of laser-formed saddle-shaped surfaces decrease with an increase in the spiral pitch of the path. Additionally, the deformations of the saddle-shaped surface increase by increasing the number of spiral passes. The results demonstrate that the pattern movement has little effect on the deformations of laser-formed saddle-shaped surfaces and an Out-to-In spiral pattern movement is advised. At last, the proper input variables to obtain the maximum value of displacements for the saddle point are determined (10 mm spiral pitch, three spiral passes, and Out-to-In pattern movement).
Highlights
Complex-shaped surfaces are used in different industries
Among the heat-based forming processes, flame forming and laser forming processes are two conventional manufacturing processes which are used for the fabrication of doubly curved sheets
Imani Shahabad et al [14,15] investigated the effect of the laser forming process in the fabrication of a dome-shaped surface
Summary
Complex-shaped surfaces are used in different industries. Shipbuilding is one of the industries which need complicated surfaces, especially saddle-shaped surfaces. Imani Shahabad et al [14,15] investigated the effect of the laser forming process (laser power, scan speed, beam diameter and sheet thickness) in the fabrication of a dome-shaped surface. The effect of the laser formation parameters (the applied power, scanning speed and number of passes) was investigated to manufacture a complex shape on FMLs. The experimental results showed that specified curvatures could be obtained by a proper set-up and that increasing the number of irradiating passes leads to the thermal relaxation of the metal and a decrease in bending angles. The effects of the spiral parameters, including the spiral pitch, the number of spiral passes and the movement pattern (In-to-Out or Out-to-In spiral path), on the deformation of laser-formed saddle-shaped surfaces are determined. Using an optimization procedure, the best values of input parameters for obtaining a saddle-shaped surface with maximum curvatures are selected
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