Investigation on the Effect of Thickness to Sheet Metal Treated by Laser Peen Forming

After the mechanisms of laser peen forming (LPF) were analyzed, the effect of sheet metal’s thickness on LPF was discussed in theory. The analysis model that residual stresses brought sheet bending was established, and the relationship between thickness and arc height of sheet metal was obtained. The process of laser shock wave loading during LPF was modeled, and then the residual stresses and deformation of the peened sheet were simulated by ABAQUS software. The results indicated that LPF use bending moments caused by residual stress to induce deformation, which was agreed with the theory analysis. The curvature of sheet metal induced by LPF decreased as the thickness increased, the arc height formed by bending was inversely proportional to thickness square of sheet metal on the whole. This research also has significance for the control of LPF and the investigation of further experiment