Many from within manufacturing industry consider Superplastic Forming (SPF) to be ‘high tech’ but it is often criticised as too complicated, expensive, slow and, in general, an unstable process. Perhaps, the fundamental cause of this negative perception of SPF, and also of diffusion bonding (DB), is the fact that the current process of SPF/DB relies on indirect sources of heating to produce the conditions necessary for the material to be formed. In the main, heat is usually derived from the electrically heated platens of hydraulic presses, to a lesser extent from within furnaces, and sometimes from heaters imbedded in ceramic moulds. Recent evaluations of these isothermal methods suggest they are slow, thermally inefficient and even inappropriate for the process.

In contrast, direct heating of only the material to be formed by modern, electrically efficient, lasers could transform SPF/DB into the first choice of designers in aerospace, automotive, marine, medical, architecture and leisure industries. Furthermore, ‘variable temperature’ direct heating which, in theory, is possible with a laser beam(s) may provide a means to control material thickness distribution, a goal of enormous importance as fuel efficient, lightweight structures for transportation systems are universally sought. This paper compares, and contrasts, the two systems and suggests how a change to laser heating might be achieved.