Laser forming (LF) of sheet metal components and
tubes requires no hard tooling and external forces and therefore suited
for die-less rapid prototyping and low-volume, high-variety production
of sheet metal and tube components. It has potential applications in
aerospace, shipbuilding, automobile, and other industries. It can also
be used for correcting and repairing sheet metal components, such as,
pre-welding “fit-up” and post-welding “tweaking.” Laser tube bending
involves no wall thinning, little ovality, and annealing effects, which
makes it easier to work on high work-hardening materials such as
titanium and nickel super-alloys. LF offers the only promising die-less
RP method for sheet metal and tubes.
MIT did a project on LF for US Navy in 1980s. MIT,
Boeing Company and shipbuilding industry did a project on LF in 1990s.
Germany (Prof. Vollertsen) and UK (University of Liverpool) did much
research on LF in 1990s. With new laser sources especially high-power
direct diode lasers and improved understanding of the process, both
academic and industrial interest is renewed. Columbia University
has been working on a NSF funded project on LF and a NIST ATP funded
project on laser correction in the last few years. We have been addressing a range of fundamental issues important to
extend laser forming from simple 2D to general 3D shapes. Current
issues in LF research include
