A study on failure mechanisms and formability of aluminum alloy sheets under laser shock forming

In the process of laser shock forming, fracture and failure are tend to occur at the center of deformation in metal sheets, which seriously affect the formability of metal sheets under laser shock forming. This paper adopts different process parameters and carries out a series of experiments on the laser shock forming for aluminum alloy 3003H16, investigates failure behaviors in the process of forming, and studies and analyzes the mechanisms of such failures as well as their relationships with limit forming depths. This study reveals three primary failure mechanisms for 3003H16 fracturing under laser shocks, including spallation failure, thinning failure, and mixed failure. The limit forming depths of sheets under different failure mechanisms are different. The spallation failure has the least depth, and the thinning failure has the largest one. It is necessary to select appropriate process parameters for the forming to avoid spallation and improve the formability of sheets under laser shocks.