from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The authors presented the ideas and assumptions with regard to manufacturing and application of a new kind metal expansion joints. Mechanically assisted laser forming manufacturing technology was briefly discussed. Metal tube with appropriate diameter and wall thickness are used to manufacture metal expansion joints. The concept assumes using a CO2 laser to implement such expansion joints. The incidence of laser beam on selected surface of the rotating tube, heating it. After reaching the plasticising temperature, the actuator compresses the tube. As a result, a bellow-lens shape is formed at the plasticization area. Initial experimental studies confirmed the validity of the concept. The bellow-lens metal expansion joint was obtained as a final result.
Keywords: Laser forming, metal expansion joints, laser treatment© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.