Numerical study on deformation behaviors in intersecting rectilinear laser bending

Laser bending is an efficient and flexible process for bending metal sheets. Single-line scanning is used to achieve the v-bending while multi-path scanning is employed to obtain complex geometric shapes. In this paper, a thermomechanical finite element model for intersecting rectilinear laser bending is established. An experimental system is built and measurements are conducted to validate the numerical model. The rules of additivity and commutativity are put forward in intersecting rectilinear laser bending, which demonstrates that the interaction between each scan can be ignored. The geometric relationship between constraints and scanning lines has a significant impact on the forming accuracy. The flatness and angular consistency are relatively high with the complete constraints parallel to the scanning line. Finally, a processing strategy for intersecting rectilinear laser bending to improve the forming accuracy is proposed.