Laser pulse heating and thermal stress developments: Elastoplastic analysis

In the present study, laser non-conduction limited heating of steel is considered. Temperature and thermal stress fields are computed for the two-dimensional axisymmetric heating situation. The phase change processes (melting and evaporation) are accommodated in the energy equation with appropriate boundary conditions. In order to account for the plastic behaviour of the substrate material, the elastoplastic analysis is employed in the stress field calculations. An experiment was conducted to validate the cavity shape predicted. It is found that temperature rises at a fast rate in the surface region and energy conduction in the axial direction dominates over its counterpart, which takes place in the radial direction. Stress levels exceeding the yield strength of the substrate material resulted in the region close to the cavity surface. The cavity size predicted agrees well with the experimental findings.