For the development of flexible forming using plasma arc (FFUPA), it is extremely necessary to investigate the forming rules of curvilinear scanning and multipath combined scanning. In this paper, the difference between circular scanning and linear scanning and the influence of sheet metal geometry on fori-ning effect have been discussed. In the experiments, circle, ring and rectangle mild steel sheets with thickness of 0.8mm are taken as workpieces and the experimental results show that nonlinear prolonged surface can be obtained by curvilinear scanning and there exists the obvious difference between circular scanning and linear scanning. Afterwards, the reason of the difference mentioned above is concisely analyzed. Finally, some suggestions are presented for the future investigation.