Improvements in springback control by external force laser-assisted sheet bending of titanium and aluminum alloys

The present investigation deals with an external-force laser assisted bending process of Grade 2 CP titanium and AA 7075 T6 aluminum sheets. High bending angles, sharp fillet radii and control of springback were achieved by tuning the contact pressure of a hydraulically driven tool with the local and selective heating of the bending zone by irradiation with a high power diode laser. First, the role of laser operational parameters, namely power, scanning speed and number of passes, in metal bending was investigated, allowing to identify the most suitable processing window. Second, a custom-built equipment to measure the bending angle during the forming process, together with the metal temperature, was implemented. Real-time monitoring of the bending angle and temperature allowed to evaluate the continuous evolution of the geometry of the metal substrates during the external force laser-assisted bending process. Experimental results showed both metal sheets could be bent to high angles with very low fillet radii by the appropriate combination of the tooling contact pressure and selective laser heating of the bending zone. Laser heating also reduces the risk of rupture in both metals during bending at high angles, limits the springback extent up to 10 times on titanium and 30 times on aluminum in comparison with conventional bending process and does not affect significantly the visual appearance of the bending zone.