Development and demonstration of an autonomous forming and straightening process using Laser-Peen-Forming

In the PEENCOR joint project - development and demonstration of an autonomous forming and straightening process using laser peen forming - the "Laser Peen Forming (LPF)" process for straightening curved titanium aircraft components is being investigated. LPF is a relatively new robot-controlled process that can produce irreversible shape changes in metallic components without the use of shaping tools, simply by applying local incremental force by means of a laser. Due to the deterministic properties of the pulsed laser and robotics, this technology is precisely energetically and locally controllable, thus reproducible and ideal for customized applications. However, the great challenge of the LPF process is the mastery of the high degrees of freedom of process parameters and thus the determination of a suitable process strategy in order to achieve a concrete deformation target. This shall be achieved by a combination of experiments, simulation and AI approaches. Leuphana University of Lüneburg is carrying out the individual project „Setup and validation of a process simulation for laser peen forming“. The PEENCOR project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) within the LuFo VI-1 program.