Investigation of Laser Heating in Microforming Applying Sapphire Tools

The application of metal forming technologies to the production of metallic micro parts is limited by problems arising from size effects related to small dimensions. An approach to solve these problems is the laserassistance of the micro forming process to benefit from e.g. the growing influence of thermodynamic aspects. Experimental investigations were carried out to determine the workpiece temperature by varying laser power at constant heating time. This is a substantial factor for the laser-assisted micro forming process design. Results from a numerical analysis using FEM techniques were compared with the ones from the test series. Furthermore micro forming investigations were made showing a dependence of the material micro structure from tool structure size and laser power.