Characterizing the effect of laser power on laser beam formed titanium sheets
- Authors: Akinlabi, Esther Titilayo
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Laser beam formation , Titanium alloys
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4751 , ISSN 978-93-81505-62-5 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11737
- Description: Laser forming is a new advanced technology in manufacturing for the bending of sheet metals and the joining of metallic components in automobile, microelectronics and the aerospace industries. In the laser forming process, various factors such as the laser parameters and the material properties need to be considered in order to achieve optimum properties after laser forming. This paper reports the effects of the laser power on the resulting curvatures of the laser beam formed Titanium sheets. The laser formed samples were characterized through the microstructure and the mechanical properties. The results obtained during the microscopic evaluation of the specimen showed that the grain sizes of the formed samples increases and is proportional to the laser power employed to form the samples. It was also found that the Vickers microhardness is directly proportional to the laser power and the radius of curvature increases with a decrease in the Laser power. Hence, the grain size is also directly proportional to the Vickers microhardness of the sample
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Laser metal deposition of Ti6Al4V/Cu composite : a study of the effect of laser power on the evolving properties
- Authors: Erinosho, Mutiu F. , Akinlabi, Esther Titilayo , Pityana, Sisa
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Porosity , Laser metal deposition , Titanium alloys
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://ujcontent.uj.ac.za8080/10210/375937 , uj:4740 , ISSN 978-93-81505-62-5 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11726
- Description: A study of the effect of laser power was investigated over the volume of deposited composite, microstructure and microhardness. The laser power was varied between 600 and 1800 W while keeping all other parameters constant. An indication shows that the area and the volume of the deposited composites are directly proportional to the laser power employed. The volume of the deposit obtained falls between 358.6 mm3 and 1009 mm3. The microstructures were analyzed and found that the formation of the Widmanstatten structures improved the hardness of Ti6Al4V/Cu composites. The hardness values of the deposits varied between HV335 and HV490. The percentages of porosities of the samples were also presented and found to have an inverse relationship with the laser power. The results are presented and discussed.
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Material characterization studies on the laser beam formed AISI 1008 mild steel
- Authors: Kumpaty, Subha , Brossard, Bradley , Kamara, Sheku , Akinlabi, Stephen A. , Akinlabi, Esther Titilayo , Raju, Govinda , Panda, Nirmal , Balasubramanian, K.
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Mechanical forming , Laser beam forming , Metal deformation
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4743 , ISSN 978-93-81505-62-5 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11729
- Description: Laser Beam Forming is a new non-contact method without the use of a die, to achieve deformation in metals, which traditionally involved the application of mechanical forces to change the shape and form of the material permanently. Laser forming causes deformation by introducing thermal stresses from an external heat source as opposed to the simple application of forces in mechanical forming. In this study, samples were formed mechanically by using a dynamic press brake machine, whereby, a punch and die apply the force. A 4.4 kW Nd:YAG laser system was used to form a second set of samples made from cold rolled AISI 1008 mild steel using laser forming. In this collaborative work involving researchers from the USA, South Africa and India, the mechanical and metallurgical properties of the unformed, mechanically formed and laser formed samples were experimentally investigated. The objective is to compare these properties amongst the different samples in order to analyze the impact of the varying methodologies especially the laser energy effects on the samples. The conclusions from these tests have provided valuable information on the applicability of laser forming to attain the appropriate surface modifications yielding the desired mechanical and metallurgical properties of the metal.
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