Study on overlapping of two sequential scans in laser forming

Laser forming can utilize localized heating for the forming of high strength alloys and use combinations of straight and curved lines to produce three-dimensional formed components, which are of significant value to industries of aerospace, shipbuilding, and microelectronics. A three-dimensional non-linear, indirectly coupled thermal-structural model for the overlapping ratio of two sequential laser beams scanning is established, accounting for temperature dependency of material properties. Numerical results are verified by experimental data. Numerical investigations are carried out to examine the difference in plastic strain distributions under different overlapping ratios. The results show that the bending angle is larger when the size of plastic zone on the top surface is wider, although the plastic strain is smaller.