Laser-assisted bending of Titanium Grade-2 sheets: Experimental analysis and numerical simulation

External force laser-assisted bending of Titanium Grade-2 flat sheets to achieve sharp bending angles (>140°) with small fillet radii is herein investigated. In particular, the influence of the operational parameters, laser power, scan speed, number of passes, on bending angles and fillet radii of the metal substrates is analysed. The experimental results show that shaping of the substrates can be performed with great reliability, being springback largely minimised in broad operational ranges. Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) allows the design of first approximation technological models and, in turn, the development of 3d processing maps. Based on the experimental findings, numerical modelling of the bending process by the Finite Element Method (FEM) through ABAQUS/Explicit software is also developed. The numerical model is found to match with great accuracy the experimental results, being it also extremely flexible and responsive to the change of the operational parameters.