Flexible Straightening of Car Body Shells by Laser Forming

Abstract

Distortion after welding is one of the problems arising during the manufacturing especially of visible parts for car body shells. The straightening work has to be minimized in order minimize production times. A system is presented which may be used for cutting, welding and straightening of car body shell parts by application of a laser beam. Some aspects of distortion after laser beam welding are highlighted. Distortion decreases with increasing welding speed. The process of laser beam bending, e. g. bending with thermal induced stresses, is presented. It is shown that the process can be sufficientl controlled. Influence parameters on the working result are discussed. It is concluded that straightening by laser beam bending should be possible in an automated system. In addition, the results show that there are the same parameters which control the distortion after welding and the bending angle after laser beam bending. So the results from laser beam bending may be used to minimize the distortion after welding.