Laser forming of a curvature shape
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.
Animated Quicktime laser forming process
QuickTime
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