Deformation characteristics of plastics in YAG laser forming

Plastic material can be also bent by laser forming in the same way as metal material, and larger bending angle can be obtained as compared to metal material. However, its deformation mechanism has not been yet clarified. Therefore, in this study, the machining characteristics and the deformation mechanism of plastic in YAG laser forming were made clear by experimental and numerical analysis. Small temperature gradient was obtained by thermal analysis in laser forming of high density polyethylene. The plastic material could be bent due to high viscoelasticity in spite of small temperature gradient. Specimen was first bent by the temperature gradient in thickness direction in a few seconds after the laser irradiation. Then, the temperature of specimen became almost the same in thickness direction, and the temperature gradient appeared only in side direction. Therefore, the deformation of specimen was occurred by the contraction of specimen in side direction and the effect of initial shape, which was deformed by the temperature gradient just after the laser irradiation. Besides, it was clarified that small thermal conductivity of plastic material lead to low cooling speed. Therefore, sufficient cooling time is necessary in order to control the deformation accurately, since the temperature of specimen should be kept equal before every laser irradiation.