A study on the effect of rectangular cut out on laser forming of AISI 304 plates

Laser bending of a rectangular AISI 304 plate with a rectangular cut out is investigated in the present work. In particular, effects of process parameters: laser power, scanning speed, and geometric parameters: dimensions of the cut out of sheet metal on temperature distribution and bending angle are explored with the help of numerical simulation. Analyses are carried out through a coupled thermo-mechanical formulation with finite element method using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS. The temperature distribution and deformation of sheet metal have been obtained from numerical simulations. The bending angle is affected by process parameters, namely, laser power, scanning speed, and width of the cut out of the sheet metal. Position of the cut out vis-à-vis the scanning path and length of the cut out have very little effect on the bending angle.