Multidirectional envelope forming of copper component with thin baseboard and high ribs

Copper components with thin baseboard and high ribs (CCTBHRs) are the critical components of laser pump sources widely utilized in laser instruments, and the high-volume production of them is now relied on the cutting technique, leading to low fabrication efficiency and low material utilization rate. Therefore, the multidirectional envelope forming (MDEF) technique is applied to form CCTBHRs in this work, and the two-passes MDEF scheme is designed for CCTBHRs due to complicated geometry. Combining finite element (FE) simulation and semi-analysis method, the forming rules and metal flow mechanisms in two-passes MDEF of CCTBHRs under the circular swing path for the envelope die and the feed velocity of 0.5 mm/s for the lower die are revealed. Both the designed MDEF scheme and FE simulation results are verified by experiments. Experimental results show that the fabrication efficiency, material utilization rate and mechanical property of CCTBHRs obtained by two-passes MDEF are all greatly higher than that obtained by the cutting technique.