A Simple Analytical Model of Laser Bending

Laser bending is a process of bending a sheet by the irradiation of laser beam on the surface of the sheet. A number of analytical and numerical methods have been proposed for the estimation of bend angle. A brief review of these methods is presented. A finite element analysis to simulate the laser bending process is carried out with ABAQUS package for the purpose of understanding the physics of this process. Afterwards, a simple analytical model is developed to evaluate the bending angle in laser bending of metal sheet. The model is based on bending of sheet using the elastic-plastic theory. It is ascertained from the experimental results available in literature that the results from the proposed model provide reasonably good prediction of bend angle. It is also shown that the model can be used for the quick estimation of yield stress of the material during laser bending process.