FEM-Based Process Design for Laser Forming of Doubly Curved Shapes

This study presents a finite element method (FEM) based three-dimensional laser forming process design methodology for thin plates to determine the laser scanning paths and heating conditions. The strain fields were first calculated via FEM. The laser scanning paths were chosen perpendicular to the averaged principal minimum strain direction. The ratios of in-plane and bending strain were calculated to help determine the heating condition. Two typical doubly curved shapes-a pillow shape and a saddle shape-were studied, and the overall methodology was validated by experiments.