Plasma-jet forming of sheet metal shapes

The plasma-jet forming is a newly proposed flexible sheet metal forming process. A non-transferred arc plasma torch is used as a controllable heat source to produce the internal stress in sheet metals, causing plastic deformation without the necessity of hard tooling. This method has the potential for rapid prototyping of sheet metal parts and reducing development costs and lead times. A robotic system has been used to perform simple linear bends in several different alloys. In order to develop a controllable process and to improve the forming accuracy, the effects of various process parameters on the obtained shape and the resultant structure and properties have been studied. The overall goal is to understand the roles of the forming parameters and their inter-relationships in optimizing the forming procedure-a high speed forming without damage to the material structure or properties.