Different types to use laser as a forming tool

Lasers offer a reproducible and controllable energy input into a highly localized area. This enables lasers as flexible forming tools. Although mechanisms of laser forming are known in principle, the application of laser forming is limited due to a lack of understanding of the quantitative process analysis. The presented article shows how laser forming processes can overcome the limits of conventional thermal forming by means of laser shock forming and laser assisted free head forming. Furthermore a concept is presented how to optimize a thermal forming process with the help of scaling rules.