Laser shot peen-forming of sheet metal(or LasershotSM Peening) is a new plastic forming
technique for metallic materials, which uses high-power pulsed laser replacing the tiny balls to peen
the surface of sheet metal. When the pressure of shock waves induced by laser impresses an
inhomogeneous residual stresses distribution in a given depth on the surface of sheet, it responds to
the stress by elongating at the peened surface and effectively bending the sheet. In order to
investigate the mechanism of laser shot peen-forming, the narrow strip peen-forming experimental
of aluminum alloy 6061-T6 was carried out by using a pulsed Nd:glass laser with 0.5Hz
repetition-rate. Here, under some given laser energy, laser pulse width, laser beam diameter and
pulse repetition frequency and so on, the influence of shot strip interval and shot times on surface
residual stresses and the deformation of the sheet is analyzed. The results show that the bending
forming of the sheet metal can be found, and the peened surface of sheet metal becomes convex.
That the bending increases with shot strip interval increase is not obvious, but it increases with the
shot times increase in a proper range of shot times. Besides, because laser shot peen-forming
generates compressive residual stresses on the surface, it offers many desirable characteristics in
shaped metals and is a valuable technique for producing components for a range of industries.
