Numerical Simulation and Verification of Laser-Polishing Free Surface of S136D Die Steel

Hao Zhou,Jie Yin,Houming Zhou,Kai Li,Zhenyu Zhao

doi:10.3390/met11030400

Hao Zhou, Jie Yin + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/met11030400

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Abstract

As a novel polishing technology, polishing by laser beam radiation can be used to improve the sample surface finish without causing material losses. In order to study the effect of laser polishing on the surface morphology of S136D die steel, an L16(44) orthogonal experiment was designed to describe the variation trend of surface roughness with energy density. The two-dimensional transient model of laser polishing was established to simulate the evolution process of material surface morphology during laser polishing by combining numerical simulation with the experiment. The model uses a moving laser heat source to study the effects of capillary pressure and thermocapillary pressure in the laser polishing process. The experimental results show that the minimum roughness can be reduced to 0.764 μm, and the error between the actual molten pool depth and the simulated molten pool depth is 5.3%.

Highlights

Polishing is a material removal process and is generally used to produce a smoother surface topography by mechanical, chemical, and electrochemical action [1,2,3]
Recent studies suggest that laser polishing (LP), as a novel technology for material surface polishing, has greater advantages than conventional polishing
The purpose of this paper is to study the capillary force and thermocapillary force with time and the evolution of the free surface under the moving heat source by the method of combining numerical simulation and experiment

Summary

Introduction

Polishing is a material removal process and is generally used to produce a smoother surface topography by mechanical, chemical, and electrochemical action [1,2,3]. Conventional polishing constitutes materials loss and has the following limitations as well: low polishing rate, difficulty in automation, high consumption cost, waste treatment issue. The LP process can be proceeded without any material losses and available to achieve freeform surface polishing [3]. It is a surface finishing technique characterized by rapid heating and cooling in the process. As the heat is accumulated on the metallic surface to a certain amount a micro peak on the material surface will first reach the melting point and start melting, and the melted material flows from the peak to the valley due to the tension [7,8,9]

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