Numerical and experimental investigations for distortion-reduced laser heat treatment of aluminum

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In the field of mobility, increased safety and emission requirements lead to steadily rising demands on materials used and their performance. Over the last decades, 5000 and 6000 series aluminum alloys have become more and more attractive as lightweight material due to their beneficial weight to strength ratio. The 7000 series offers extended lightweight potential due to its high strength. Until now, this class of alloys has not been widely used in mass production due to its limited corrosion resistance and poor forming behavior. By using so-called Tailor Heat Treated Blanks, it is possible to set increased forming limits of previously locally heat treated components. The reason for the enhanced formability is the local softening, with the resulting improved material flow and the reduced critical forming stresses of the sheet metal before the forming operation. Despite these advantages, the use of previously heat treated materials has been very limited so far. For example, the distortion that occurs during local heat treatment reduces geometrical accuracy and thus automated handling. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is the investigation of tailored heat treatment strategies, permitting a distortion-reduced local short-term heat treatment. For this purpose, the distortion behavior is represented and quantified both numerically and experimentally. The generated knowledge is then transferred to a large volume component and characterized.