Laser forming of difficult-to form Al-SiC composite foam – Experimental and numerical analyses. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Changdar, Anirban; Shrivastava, Ankit; Chakraborty, Shitanshu Shekhar; Dutta, Samik
• Is Part Of: Optics & laser technology. Volume 151(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Laser forming of composite foam -- Relative density variation in foam -- FE analysis of metal foam forming -- Equivalent model -- Cellular model -- Voxel model; Optics -- Periodicals; Lasers -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 621.366
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlastec.2022.108009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0030-3992

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Laser forming of difficult-to-form Al-SiC foam is explored for the first time. Deformation prediction accuracy of equiv., cellular and voxel models is compared. Stochastic variation of relative density among aluminium foam samples is considered. A new simpler strategy of generating a cellular model for simulation is shown. Cellular model predicted the bending angle closest to the experimental value. Abstract: Despite being cheap and having shown high crashworthiness, composite aluminium foam reinforced with silicon carbide (SiC) lacks utilization because of its limited ductility which hinders its shaping by mechanical means. This study established laser forming as a robust method to form this material. Unlike existing literature, the current study takes into account the relative density of the foam along with laser parameters (power, scan speed and beam spot diameter) to develop a statistically significant model for predicting the bending angles. Previously, no studies had been conducted on laser forming of Al-SiC composite foams. Further, three different approaches for numerical simulation of laser forming of metal foams viz. equivalent model, cellular model and voxel model were probably compared for the first time in terms of their accuracy to predict bending and computational time requirement. The cellular model could predict the bending most accurately, yet consumed the least computational time. The complete thermo-mechanical analysis of the voxel model of metal foam had been rarely reported before this. In this paper, a new simpler cellular model was used for simulation that could incorporate higher foam porosity (73%).