About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Forming and Joining of Advanced Sheet Metal Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Evolution of the oxide layer during laser sheet metal forming aluminum alloys |
| Author(s) |
Nathan Fripp, Tianchen Wei, Benjamin A. Begley, 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. In aluminum alloys, the presence of an insulating oxide layer is necessary for bending. To characterize the influence and development of this oxide layer, the temperature and microstructural evolution will be quantified. In this work, the bend rates of 3003Al samples heat treated to create oxide layers of varying thickness are analyzed after bending in atmospheric pressure air, low pressure air, vacuum, and argon environments. The microstructural evolution will be quantified using electron backscatter diffraction and the oxide thickness will be measured using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Isolating the influence of the presence and development of the oxide layer will improve the consistency of laser forming in vacuum space environments. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Aluminum, Shaping and Forming, Other |