Research on the Finite Element Simulation of the Laser Shock Forming of TC4 Titanium Alloy

Abstract

laser shock forming, which combines the metal forming and material modification, is a non-mode, flexible forming new technology using laser-induced force effect of high amplitude shock waves to obtain the plastic deformation of sheet metal. in this paper, the simulation of laser shock forming process of tc4 sheet metal was carried out through the commercial finite element analysis software abaqus. the influence of the sheet thickness, laser energy, constraints aperture and laser spot spacing on the sheet metal deformation are investigated. the results show that: with the increase of sheet thickness, the deformation range of sheet decreases, and the amplitude of deformation decreases firstly and then increases. the deformation increases linearly with the increase of laser energy. the larger boundary constraint aperture leads to the larger deformation of sheet metal. there are no obvious influence on the forming accuracy when an opposite laser spot spacing is adopted. therefore, under the condition of meeting the accuracy requirement, for improving the efficiency, adopting a certain laser spot spacing to finish the forming should be considered.