Laser forming is an innovative technique that uses a defocused laser beam to form sheet metal by thermal stresses rather than external forces. Promising potential applications of laser forming include rapid prototyping, straightening, aligning and adjusting of macro/micro components. In This thesis firstly reviews the mechanisms involved in laser forming and analytical models proposed for them. Then influencing factors on the laser bending process have been discussed. In this dissertation, the Straight-Line Laser Forming process was simulated by using ANSYS commercial software developing related ANSYS codes (macros) in order to estimate temperature distributions, stresses and plastic strains. The simulation process is done uncouple thermal-mechanical. First thermal model is solved and the results of the thermal solution is used to load on mechanical model and then by solving mechanical model, the bend angle is computed. In this research, thermo-physical and mechanical properties is depended to temperature. Moreover a series of experiment carried out on stainless steel AISI 304 using a continuous-wave CO 2 laser source. The surface of sampls was coated with graphite in order to increase absorption. The results of this model accordance with the experimental results. Key Words Laser forming, Bending, Sheet metal Forming, Thermal stress , Numerical simulation
