Diode laser beam of 20 W is applied to bend forming of thin metal plates. Bending characteristics are discussed on the basis of the experimental results for various bending conditions such as laser power, beam diameter, plate thickness, position of laser irradiation and so forth; furthermore, several kinds of metals are adopted as targets, i.e., AISI 304, iron, copper, molybdenum, nickel and aluminum. The bending angles strongly depend on the kind of materials; in particular, materials with low thermal conductivity bends with large angles. This seems to be caused by the high temperature rise due to low thermal diffusion. AISI 304 plates bend both away from and toward the beam under the same experimental conditions. The beam diameter has a strong effect on the bending direction; in case of forming of AISI 304 plate of 0.1 mm thickness, it bends away from the beam with higher possibility with larger diameter beam.

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2002
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