FINITE-ELEMENT MODELING IN THE TECHNOLOGY OF HARDENING LASER PROCESSING OF A METAL-CUTTING TOOL

A problem on heating of a cutting tool by triangularly shaped pulsed laser radiation has been solved numerically in a three-dimensional formulation by the fi nite-element method. The developed model takes account of the infl uence of both the geometry of the tool and the spatial and temporal characteristics of laser radiation on the formation of a temperature fi eld in the laser-processing zone. A study has been made of the temperature distribution on the front face of the tool and over the depth of the laser-impingement point for different positions of the center of a laser-processing spot relative to the major cutting edge. For different tool angles, the regularities of formation of a temperature fi eld during the hardening by pulsed laser radiation have been established; processing regimes (energy density, the multiplicity of processing, and the position of the center of the laser-processing spot relative to the tool′s cutting edges) that ensure the best parameters of the laser-impingement point (maximum hardening depth and the hardening-zone length) have been determined. A procedure to select technological parameters for the process of hardening of the cutting tool has been developed
   
Author:  S. I. Yares′ko
Keywords:  modeling, fi nite-element method, temperature fi eld, laser hardening, cutting tool, cutter point
Page:  314