Deformation simulation of laser welding 304L stainless steel thin plate on the bulging process for manufacturing new ice machine

Abstract

Hydroforming is a manufacturing process that uses a fluid medium to form a part by using high internal pressure. The bulging process is one of the important methods for manufacturing the serpentine flowing channel evaporation board for the ice machine. The serpentine flowing channel evaporation board is made by the laser welding, which is of a high and complicated nonlinear deformation characteristic in bulging. In this paper, one simple practical model is applied to simulate the deformation and check the reliability of welding joint on bulging process. The bulging key parameters-bulging pressure, size of flowing channels and loading path are determined and optimized in order to avoid the uneven bulging. The height change and thickness distribution of welding structure's bulging deformation are discussed respectively.