Laser Heating and Phase Change Processes: Influence of Laser Pulse Parameters on Temperature and Stress Fields

Temperature and stress fields developed in steel due to the laser repetitive pulse heating are investigated. Temperature field is determined from the FLUENT code while stress field is predicted from the ANSYS code. The phase change during the heating is considered and the Marangoni flow in the melt pool is incorporated in the analysis. The influence of the laser pulse parameter, beta, on temperature and stress fields is examined. It is found that temperature distribution in the radial direction almost follows the laser pulse intensity distribution at the surface. von Mises stress attains high values in the neighbourhood of the melt pool where temperature gradient is high. The beta influenced significantly the stress distribution and the stress magnitude in the irradiated region.