Controlled laser forming for rapid prototyping

Abstract

It is now well‐known that laser forming offers considerable potential for rapid prototyping and manufacture of sheet metal components. However, a problem with the technique to date has been the generally poor repeatability of the process as a whole on a run‐to‐run or‐day‐to‐day basis. Efforts to rectify the problem by careful selection and pre‐setting of the process parameters, based on empirical data, have proved unsatisfactory due to the inherent variability of the laser system. Elimination of the variability would require conditions which would be impractical for production situations. In order to overcome this difficulty a closed loop control system based on monitoring component deformations, as they approach target values, has been developed. In response to the deformation data, available at each forming pass, the forming parameters are adjusted so that forming continues at an optimum rate to a predetermined tolerance. Discusses the production of laser‐formed components and shows how the implementation of a feedback control system can negate the inevitable process variability, thereby significantly aiding the efficient and accurate production of components.