Laser Bending of a Steel Sheet: Morphological and Metallurgical Examinations

Laser bending of mild steel sheet is investigated and the bending angle variation with the laser output power is predicted. Morphological and metallurgical changes in the laser treated layer are examined using optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The residual stress formed in the treated layer is obtained from the XRD technique. It is found that laser treated layer mainly consisting of two regions. Melting and re-solidification takes place in the first region and the heat affected zone (HAZ) forms the second region. The residual stress obtained is of the order of -100 +/- 3 MPa.