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Laser forming of a rectangular plate

Introduction

Laser forming is a special way of rapid prototyping, during which laser induced thermal distortion is used to shape sheet metal without hard tooling or external forces. Compared with the traditional metal forming technologies, laser forming has many advantages. The cost of the forming process is greatly reduced because no tools or external forces are involved in the process, useful for small batch and high variety of sheet metal components. With the high flexibility in the laser beam's delivering and power regulating systems, it is easy to incorporate laser forming into an automatic flexible manufacturing system. Laser forming uses localized heating to induce controlled deformation and therefore has the advantage of energy efficiency, as compared to other thermal processes where an entire workpiece normally needs to be heated.

Laser forming of a rectangular plate		Laser forming of a curvature shape		Laser shock processing
Quicktime	VRML	Quicktime	VRML	Quicktime

Parameters	P=800W V=50mm/s	P=400W V=25mm/s
Temperature	movie	movie
Stress: Mises	movie	movie
Stress: S11	movie	movie
Stress: S22	movie	movie
Stress: S33	movie	movie
Stress: S12	movie	movie
Stress: S13	movie	movie
Stress: S23	movie	movie
Plastic strain: PE11	movie	movie
Plastic strain: PE22	movie	movie
Plastic strain: PE33	movie	movie
Plastic strain: PEEQ	movie	movie