ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to qualify laser processing as a green manufacturing technique from the sustainability and environment-friendliness point of view. The unique advantages of laser-forming process can make its application in manufacturing, coherent with 3R philosophy: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Conventional sheet metal forming usually require a die-punch set which is produced with the help of a series of manufacturing processes including material removal processes generating a significant quantity of scraps. The material processing modalities that are realized by laser melting of materials include cutting, welding, surface modification by remelting, alloying, and cladding, and rapid manufacturing by selective laser sintering/melting and direct metal powder deposition. Lasers have been used to weld various similar and dissimilar materials of thickness up to typically 10–15mm, limited by laser power in a single pass without any filler material. Using precise movements of the scanning mirrors, laser unit selectively melts few regions of the powder bed.
