Chapter 10 – Laser-Assisted Micro-Forming

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses forming as one of the basic production technologies, and due to the potential and low costs of the process is widely spread in industrial applications Warm forming with laser radiation is a promising technique to enable new processes or enlarge the processing limits of conventional processes. In comparison to other production technologies like lithography, no additional operations are necessary. Elevated temperatures of the work piece material lead to a reduction of the yield stress and an increase of the forming-ability. As heat source laser radiation is applicable, making a fast heating of selected areas of the work piece is possible. The demand towards reproducible and high quality process results requires the accurate measurement of occurring temperatures during the forming operation, which can be achieved by the employment of a pyrometer.