In recent decades, one of the challenges in sheet metal forming was production of two-step bending surfaces without mechanical tools and external force or by a combination of heat source and mechanical tools. Forming with a heat source such as laser beam has the potential for forming arbitrary 3D shapes such as two-step bending surfaces. In this paper a novel method for laser forming of complic...

In the current work, cup drawing experiments with laser assistance are presented where only selected areas of the work piece have been heated up. Since the strongest deformations occur at the outer circumference of the blank, only that area has been heated up by a defocused laser beam. Selective laser heating of the work pieces was performed by diode as well as Nd:YAG laser radiation. The formi...

Geometric effects play an important role in laser forming process; however, few investigations have been reported on the geometric size effect other than sheet thickness. In this paper, the influence of size effect, including sheet width and sheet length, on laser induced deformation is experimentally, numerically and analytically investigated. A size matrix is designed to cover a wide range of...

Welding-induced distortion is an intrinsic problem arising due to the mismatch of thermal expansions in the weld and surrounding material. The distortion can be minimized through the pre-process, in process, or post-process methodology. In the present paper, the laser forming (LF) technology is utilized for the post correction of the welding-induced distortion. Three types of weld paths are app...

Through the continuing trend of miniaturization new cost efficient and fast methods for processing small parts are required. In this paper a new non-mechanical process for the forming process of micro deep drawing is presented. This new deep drawing process utilizes a laser initiated plasma shock wave at the target, which forms the sheet. Several pulses can be applied at one point and therefore...

In laser forming, phase transformations in the heated affected zone (HAZ) take place under steep thermal cycles, and have a significant effect on the flow behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy and the laser forming process. In the present work, the transformation during heating is modeled based on the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) theory, and the decomposition of phase, producing martensite ' or lamellae dep...

One of the methods for making prototypes is incremental forming process. In this method, the forming tool, performs a pre-programmed movement by the CNC machine and runs the desired path. This modernization process is used in the automotive, aerospace, military, medical and other industries. One of the most influential parameters in this process is forming tool. This parameter is effective in f...

Laser forming as a springback-free and noncontact forming technique has been under active investigation over the last decade. Previous investigations are mainly focused on forming of large and thick workpieces using high power lasers, with less work on precision, micro-scale bending of small and thin sheets. In this work, a 4 W continuous wave argon ion laser is used as the energy source, and t...