Laser bending of an Al6013/SiCp aluminium matrix composite sheet

Laser forming is regarded as a process without rivals in the forming of hard and brittle materials. In this paper, the deformation behaviour of Al6013/SiCp aluminium matrix composite sheets in laser bending is investigated for the first time. Aluminium alloys being highly reflective to lasers, the operating range for the sheet is quite narrow, beyond which the sheet will either be melted or be unable to deform. The experimental results show that the final bending angle is related strongly to the laser power, the processing velocity, the number of irradiations, and the sheet geometry. It is interesting to note that smaller bending angles are obtained when the laser-scanning direction is parallel to the rolling direction of the sheet. A linear relationship between bending angle and line energy is also obtained when the line energy ranges from 2.5 to 5.5 J/mm for a 0.32 mm thick sheet. It is considered that the process should be operated in this range in order to have better control of the bending angle.