Product Code: ICAL06_M602

Development of Laser Forming of Thin Section Materials Using Rapid Scanning Optics for Macro-Applications
Authors:
Konrad Bartkowiak, Fraunhofer Center for Coatings and Laser Appliations; Plymouth MI USA
Konrad Bartkowiak, Poznan University of Technology; Poznan Poland
Presented at ICALEO 2006

Laser Forming (LF) is recognized as a novel technique with strong potential for industrial applications. This non-contact forming method is characterized by having no spring back effect. This very important feature gives LF industrial promise for many applications, especially rapid prototyping, precision adjustment, removing distortion and for generating 3D complex shapes, which can not be achieved by traditional mechanical methods. The rapid laser forming of thin section metals has been achieved by using a Nd:YAG laser system incorporating fast galvo-mirror scanning. The high scanning speed can change the LF regime, but still gives control of distortion during the bending or shaping process of thin section components. The work presented here shows the feasibility of using a rapid scanning optics system to apply a miniature-scale version of laser forming to thin sections of different materials. In this paper the 2D laser bending with on-line measurement of displacement data and the creation of 3D shapes using various scan strategies are investigated. The 3D post-formed surfaces were measured off-line by a diode laser range finder used in conjunction with high accuracy XY table. The metallurgical analysis of the laser formed samples is also discussed in this paper.