A thermo-structural manufacturing process using AISI 304L stainless steel

Abstract

This article presents a study of high-temperature heating of AISI 304L stainless steel to induce deformations in a manufactured part. Small square samples of AISI 304L were heated to deform a slot using an oxy-acetylene torch. The sample temperature profiles were measured using three thermocouples with maximum temperature values ranging from 760 °C to 1130 °C. Three-dimensional thermo-structural finite element models were created to predict the magnitude of permanent deformation and were validated experimentally. Torch modeling parameters were optimized numerically using a series of finite element simulations. The finite element predictions for deformation were found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The variation in yield strength of AISI 304L was shown to be an important factor in affecting the magnitude of deformations. Repeated heating experiments also demonstrated additive plastic strain with each heating cycle. The results provide a means to use high temperatures to purposefully alter the dimensions of a slot in a manufactured part but with varying accuracy.