Experimental research on pulse laser forming of metal sheet

Laser forming of sheet is a forming technology of sheet without a die that the sheet is deformed by internal thermal stress induced by partially irradiation of a laser beam. In this paper, the bending behavior of common stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti sheet is studied after being irradiated by straight line with a Nd:YAG pulse laser beam. The aim of the investigation is to find out the relationship of the bending angles with the pulse parameters of the laser. The experimental results show that higher width of pulse is advantageous to increase the bending angles if the total outer power and the rate of the pulse are constant. The bending angle increases as the rate of the pulse increase and begins to decrease at a certain processing parameters. And the bending angle firstly increases with the pulse energy increasing and begins to decrease at a certain processing parameters, as there is a certain pulse energy parameter resulting in a maximum bending angle for a certain material and processing parameters. The pulse energy is the most important factor influences the bending angles of pulse laser forming in the pulse parameters. By qualitative analysis of experimental result, the conclusion obtained may provide basis for theoretical investigation and possible industrial application of laser bending process in the future.