FEM simulation of the temperature field during the laser forming of sheet metal

A laser beam can be used as a flexible sheet metal forming tool. Its mechanism is the forming caused by thermal stresses resulted from the irradiation of laser beam scanning. Because of the complexity of this process, numerical simulation becomes necessary for its analysis. In this paper, under the conditions of neglecting thermo-mechanical coupling, a simplified computational model and corresponding solving method are established. Then, FEM analysis of the three-dimensional transient temperature field produced by laser beam scanning on the forming sheet is carried out. The results show that: (i) there is good agreement between the FEM solution based on the present model and that of FDM based on the general heat-balance equation; (ii) the peak values of the temperature of the upper and lower surface are increased with increase of the laser power, but are decreased with increase of the sheet thickness and the scanning velocity; and (iii) the temperature difference in the thickness direction is increased with increase of the laser power and the thickness, and decrease of the scanning velocity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.