| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Laser Manufacturing of High-Performance Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Controlling the Pre-Bending Delay During Laser Sheet Metal Forming |
| Author(s) |
Nathan Fripp, Tianchen Wei, Benjamin Begley, Benjamin Anthony, Victoria Miller |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Nathan Fripp |
| Abstract Scope |
Laser forming—a contactless thermal sheet forming process—will improve high precision autonomous manufacturing of large structures in space. During this process, a laser heats a metal sheet to induce a gradient in thermal expansion and stress, causing bending. For metals with high thermal conductivities, the first several scans result in little bending before the bend rate jumps to a near-steady rate. To characterize the “pre-bending” regime, the effects of microstructural evolution, cooling rate, and oxide formation are quantified. In this work, the bend rates of 3003Al samples heat-treated to control the initial microstructural state are analyzed after bending in air, vacuum, and argon to separate the effects of cooling mechanism and oxide layer formation. Electron backscatter diffraction and microhardness testing will quantify the microstructural evolution. Identifying the controlling factor for the pre-bending regime will improve laser forming consistency, both terrestrially and in orbit. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Shaping and Forming, Environmental Effects, Characterization |