Accuracy evolution and path compensation in 3D laser cutting process for advanced high strength steel parts: numerical analysis and experimental investigation

Advanced high strength steel (AHSS) has been widely used in automobile components due to its good lightweight effect and high safety. 3D laser cutting is the most dominant method for removing material from AHSS. However, the springback in the whole manufacturing process severely causes 3D laser cutting path deviations. To improve the cutting accuracy, a novel 3D laser cutting path compensation method considering the springback transfer is proposed in this paper. The AHSS A-pillar is used to investigate the springback behavior in the whole process. The hot stamping finite element model and 3D laser cutting finite element model are established, respectively. Through the finite element simulation analysis, the accuracy evolution law of the part during the whole process is discussed. Based on the accuracy evolution law of the hot stamping and the accuracy evolution law of the laser cutting process, the proposed compensation method is employed to modify the laser cutting path. The modified path is then applied to a 3D laser cutting experiment. The experimental results show that the deviation value is reduced by about 15% compared with the conventional 3D laser cutting process. The proposed 3D laser cutting path compensation method shows the advantage of high accuracy, which can also effectively improve production efficiency.