CaliBend: A flexible, cost-effective laser module for thermal-assisted bending of high-strength steels

"CaliBend" proposes a direct diode laser approach for thermal assisted processing of steel sheets. Our module aims at enabling bending processes of high-strength steels (HSS) and with minimal bending radii without inducing damage to the metal part. In this work we present a laser source integrated on an industrial servo press for continuous die processing. The metal sheet is heated up locally by laser radiation before the bending stroke. By reaching power densities close to 40 W/mm2, the bending line of the metal sheet reaches the hot forming temperature regime in under two seconds allowing a faultless while increasing the typically low forming limits of HSS.