Laser forming of aluminium metal foam panels

Résumé

Aluminium metal foam panels can be formed by laser bending without collapse of the cell structure and with relatively large bending angles. A diode laser having the power set to 100 W and three scan rates (4, 6, and 8 mm/s) were used in the experiments. The maximum number of passes was 150 and a flow protective gas was provided on the processed zone of two panels different in density. In the paper are investigated the obtained values of the bending angles, the microstructure in the deformation zone of the AlSiMg metallic foam panels deformed by laser bending.