Laser shock forming of SUS304 stainless steel sheet with elliptical spot

A novel forming method by laser shock wave with elliptical spot is reported. The mechanism of laser shock forming (LSF) and equation of pressure pulse were presented, and SUS304 stainless steel with a thickness of 0.4 mm was experimentally investigated. Firstly, the deformed specimen was measured by ARGUS optical measuring system, and the results of major and minor strain and material thickness reduction of sheet metal to analyze the deformation qualities were provided. Secondly, the major and minor strains were imported into forming limit diagram (FLD) to evaluate the forming parameters. The result clearly shows that all measurement points are below the forming limit curves of the SUS304 steel. Finally, the thickness reduction along long-axis direction was simulated and analyzed by using ABAQUS finite element (FE) software. The simulated results are basically in agreement with the experiment data.