Processing strategy for laser forming of complicated singly curved shapes

Abstract

Laser forming is a flexible sheet metal forming technique, which achieves a desirable shape by non-uniform thermal stress induced by laser beam without hard tooling and external forces. In engineering applications, a singly curved surface is extensively applied in forming parts. To acquire high accurate shape in laser forming, a new design approach is proposed to determinate path planning and process parameters of complicated singly curved shape. This approach mainly includes three steps, curve division, path planning and process parameters determination. Finally, to validate the effectiveness of the method, a sine curved plate is processed. The experimental result shows that the proposed approach is valid for complicated singly curved parts.

Keywords:

• LASER FORMING
• PATH PLANNING
• PARAMETER DETERMINATION
• SINGLY CURVED SURFACE