Approach for bidirectional laser bending of sheet metal with one-sided accessibility

Laser bending by means of the temperature gradient mechanism (TGM) has so far been limited to bending the free end of a sheet metal strip toward the irradiating laser beam. This investigation aims to present a new approach which, despite one-sided accessibility, allows targeted incremental laser bending in both directions by the TGM and the upsetting deformation mechanism (UM). The method is based on blind holes along the bending line, whereby the bend direction can be determined by irradiating either the blind hole bottoms or the bridges between the holes. The possibility of bidirectional and alternating laser bending is demonstrated. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of CIRP.