Investigation into micro-extrusion forming based on laser shock in 3003 aluminum alloy

The micro-bulk forming with laser shock under the restriction of micro-extrusion die is a kind of new forming technology, which utilizes shockwave induced by laser to produce volume deformation of local sheet metal under the constraint of the die. A model of micro-extrusion of laser shock was developed to analyze the forming depth of different sheet thickness (0.12mm, 0.15mm, 0.17mm and 0.22mm) of 3003 aluminum alloy under different diameters of the micro-dies (0.4mm, 0.7mm, 0.9mm and 1.1mm). After establishing finite element model for numerical analysis, theoretical analysis and experimental verification were carried out and the data of the forming depth were obtained under different thickness and different diameters of the micro-dies. The results show that the forming depth increases sharply, then slowly with the increase of sheet thickness. For the same thickness, the sheet forming depth increases with the increase of diameter of the micro-die in a non-linear way. For the single shock, the number of shock has a great influence on the sheet forming depth. It is found that the simulation results are in accordance with experimental results, which gives support for the quality control of micro-bulk forming.