Experimental analyses of bending angle by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser in sheet metal forming process

The process of laser bending requires numerous experiments to pinpoint parameters that produce the highest bending angle of sheet metals. The effects of laser power, beam diameter, scan velocity, pass number, pulse duration, sheet metal thickness and proposed parameter for material properties on bending angle were investigated. The Taguchi method and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied to find out significant parameters in laser bending. An equation through regression analysis was introduced to predict the bending angle with respect to these parameters. The optimum laser bending angle was also determined by using signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio method.