Research and development status of laser peen forming: A review

Laser peen forming (LPF) is a non-contact sheet metal forming process, in which a laser-induced shockwave is utilized to accurately bend, shape, precision-align, adjust, and/or repair engineering components. Due to its combination of exceptional manufacturing advantages, including non-thermal, no hard tooling, high process flexibility and controllability, and peening effect for enhanced material durability, LPF has been used for widespread industry applications in aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, biomedical devices, microelectronics, and microelectromechanical system (MEMS). As a state-of-the-art technology, ongoing investigations are being conducted to improve the efficacy of LPF. This paper aims at reviewing the research and development status of LPF. The LPF process design, forming mechanisms, and simulation methodologies are discussed. The deformation behaviors as affected by laser processing parameters, including laser intensity, material thickness, overlapping ratio, and number of scanning tracks, are reviewed. In addition, the recent advances in femtosecond LPF and heat-assisted LPF are studied.