Laser-assisted sheet metal working in series production

Based on the demand for a responsible use of natural resources and energy the need for lightweight materials is increasing. The most common materials for lightweight production are high and highest strength steel. These materials are difficult to machine using conventional sheet metal working processes because the high strength leads to a limited formability and high tool wear. The Fraunhofer IPT developed the laser-assisted sheet metal working. Selective laser based heating of the part directly before machining softens the material locally. Thus the quality of the following cut can be increased, for example for shearing 1.4310 the clear cut surface ratio can be increased from 20% up to 100% using a shearing gap of 10% of the sheet thickness. Because of the softening of the material and thus the increased formability, parts with a higher complexity can be produced. For example 1.4310 can be bent laser-assisted with a radius of 0.25 mm instead of 2-3 mm using the convent ional process. For the first time spring steel can be embossed with conventional tools up to 50% of the sheet thickness. For the implementation in series production a modular system upgrade "hy-PRESS" has been developed to include laser and scanner technology into existing presses. For decoupling the sensitive optical elements of the machine vibrations an active-passive damping system has been developed. The combination of this new hybrid process and the system technology allows to produce parts of high strength steel with a high complexity and quality