Development of a robust laser beam bending process for aluminum fuselage structures

The aeronautic industry has to face the demand of cost reduction by its customers. These costs are divided into acquisition and operating costs. Both can be reduced by optimization and automation of production steps and by using highly integrated light weight structures. Within the EU-founded FP 6 project ECOSHAPE a laser beam forming (LBF) process for the laser beam bending of complex fuselage aluminum panels has been developed. The aim was to build up the fundamental know-how for an industrial manufacturing process performing most production steps in flat condition due to a minimum of machining costs, technological complexity and a maximum of robustness and reliability. To facilitate the cost intensive qualification of the LBF-process the metallurgical behavior of the aluminum alloys is investigated as well as the influences of the single structural elements of the fuselage panels like stingers and pockets on the forming result. For the industrial upgrade the process is integrated into a discrete control loop using the geometry of the panel as control variable.