Composite forming method and device combining electric pulse creep aging with laser peening

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12529130-B2
Application number	US-202418964451-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2024
Priority date	Jun 11, 2024
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A composite forming method and device combining electric pulse creep aging with laser peening are provided. The method includes modeling a ribbed integral panel, simulating a creep forming process of the panel, and determining and marking localized difficult-to-deform areas. The panel is then pre-bent into shape, and the localized difficult-to-deform areas are performed a laser shock strengthening treatment. Electric pulse heating treatment is performed on the panel and creep aging forming is started. Whether an accuracy of the component surface meets a target accuracy is determined by comparing the scanned component surface with a target surface. For areas that do not meet the target accuracy, a secondary laser shock strengthening treatment is applied. The accuracy of the component surface is repeatedly determined until it meets the target accuracy. The present application improves a forming efficiency of complex curvature components.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A composite forming method combining electric pulse creep aging with laser peening, comprising the following steps:
Step S1: modeling a ribbed integral panel component using a finite element software to produce a modeled model, and simulating a creep forming process of the modeled model using the finite element software to determine localized difficult-to-deform areas of the ribbed integral panel component, and then marking a ribbed integral panel based on the determined localized difficult-to-deform areas, wherein the localized difficult-to-deform areas are rib surfaces, skin surfaces, and curved transition regions between ribs and skins on the ribbed integral panel component; Step S2: performing surface grinding and polishing pretreatment on the marked ribbed integral panel, and fixing the ribbed integral panel component on a flexible tooling platform via a plurality of universal lifting devices and clamping ends, and then pre-bending the ribbed integral panel component into shape by using the plurality of universal lifting devices, wherein during a process of pre-bending the ribbed integral panel component into shape, a digital image correlation (DIC) detection system is employed to monitor a surface temperature, a stress value and a strain value of the ribbed integral panel component in real time, and heights and angles of each universal lifting device are adjusted separately by using computer control to compare a target surface of the component, to pre-bend the ribbed integral panel into shape; each universal lifting device comprises a lifting servo motor, a pitching servo motor and a universal suction cup, the lifting servo motor is mounted on the flexible tooling platform, an output end of the lifting servo motor is connected to a mounting seat, the pitching servo motor is connected to the universal suction cup through a pitching transmission mechanism, lifting and pitching actions of the universal lifting device are achieved by controlling the lifting servo motor and the pitching servo motor via a computer; Step S3: performing a laser shock strengthening treatment on the localized difficult-to-deform areas of the pre-bent ribbed integral panel through a laser peening mobile platform; Step S4: performing an electric pulse heating treatment on the ribbed integral panel after the laser shock strengthening treatment to achieve electric pulse creep age forming of the ribbed integral panel, and obtaining the ribbed integral panel component formed by the electric pulse creep aging, wherein a specific process of the electric pulse creep age forming comprises: electrically heating the ribbed integral panel after laser shock strengthening treatment through the clamping ends of the flexible tooling platform, adjusting a local curvature of the ribbed integral panel during the heating process by controlling the plurality of universal lifting devices in real time, so that an overall surface of the panel gradually approximates the target surface of the component, at the same time, monitoring a surface temperature, a stress value, a strain value, and an accuracy of a component surface in real time by employing a DIC detection system, and adjusting electric pulse working parameters and heights and angles of the universal lifting device in real time; Step S5: performing three-dimensional scanning on the ribbed integral panel component to obtain the component surface; determining whether an accuracy of the component surface meets a target accuracy by comparing the scanned component surface with the target surface of the component, when the accuracy of the component surface meets the target accuracy, completing the forming of the ribbed integral panel component and obtaining formed component; when the accuracy of the component surface does not meet the target accuracy, and further marking areas on the ribbed integral panel component that have not meet the target accuracy, and proceed to step S6; Step S6: performing a secondary laser shock strengthening treatment on the marked areas where the accuracy of the component surface does not meet the target accuracy by employing a laser peening device; and Step S7: repeating step S5 until the accuracy of the component surface of the ribbed integral panel component meets the target accuracy.

2 . The composite forming method according to the claim 1 , wherein in step S1, the simulation of the creep forming process of the ribbed integral panel component model is as follows: first, preparing samples by using material identical to that of the ribbed integral panel, and carrying out experiments on the samples on a creep machine to obtain relevant parameters, including creep temperatures, creep times, and creep stress values, and then fitting the obtained relevant parameters and establishing constitutive equations of the ribbed integral panel, and finally, importing the constitutive equations into a simulation software, to simulate the forming process of the ribbed integral panel component.

3 . The composite forming method according to the claim 1 , wherein in step S3 and step S6, process parameters for laser shock strengthening treatment comprises: a laser pulse energy ranging from 2 to 30 J, a laser spot diameter from 0.5 to 3 mm, a spot overlap rate ranging from 50% to 90%, and a shock peening frequency ranging from 1 to 20 Hz.

4 . The composite forming method according to the claim 3 , wherein shock peening passes for the laser shock strengthening treatment are 1 to 5 passes.

5 . The composite forming method according to the claim 3 , wherein materials of a restraining layer used in the shock peening passes for laser shock strengthening treatment are water, glycerin, or glass plate, while materials of a protective layer are aluminum foil or black glue.

6 . The composite forming method according to the claim 1 , wherein in step S4, a voltage for the electric pulse creep age forming is 10˜48V, a current is 60A˜36000 A, a positive pulse frequency is 10˜2000 Hz, and an accuracy range for a surface temperature control is ±3° C.

Assignees

• Univ Central South

Inventors

• Zhan Lihua
• Ren Haobo
• Xu Yongqian
• Li Tinghao

Classifications

• C22F3/00 Primary

  Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by special physical methods, e.g. treatment with neutrons · CPC title

• C21D10/005

  by laser shock processing · CPC title

• B23K2103/10

  Aluminium or alloys thereof · CPC title

• B23K26/356

  by shock processing · CPC title

• C21D2221/00

  Treating localised areas of an article · CPC title