• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.54-63
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• 1997

For the purpose of establishing laser welding condition (laser power, welding speed and beam focus) and of evaluating tailored blanks for two kinds of thin steel sheets SPCC and SK5M using in the thin plate structure such as automobile, train, and so on, investigated their $CO^2$ laser weldability under various initial welding conditions. SPCC thin sheet showed good weldability under some welding conditions. But, high carbon steel sheet SK5M needed heat treatment after welding to obtain ductility of the welded joint. And next, tailored blank was tested through deep drawing to evaluate reliability of their obtained laser welding conditions. The forming depths by tailored blank were SPCC+SPCC=22-25mm and SK5M+SK5M=13-25mm.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.540-547
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• 2011

Recent years have seen advent of hot stamped parts made from laser-welded blanks of boron steels for structures requiring high crash energy absorption. However, the presence of Al-Si coating interfered with satisfactory mechanical characterizations after laser butt welding. In this study, laser ablation technology was considered in order to facilitate adequate mechanical characterization of the final hot-stamped panels.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.568-574
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• 2011

The combination of tailor welded blank (TWB) and hot stamping often offers improved crash-worthiness and reduced mass of stamped parts in the automobile body. To investigate the formability of laser TWB and the reliability of weld line, the present study used 22MnB5 boron steel sheet of the same thickness and used the Erichsen cupping test at elevated temperatures. The effects of laser direction, die temperature, weld line positions and forming speed on formability(the limiting dome height) were studied and the results were compared with the formability of the base material.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 2001

Forming more than two parts of sheet metal in a single stamping operation lowers production costs, reduces weight, and heightens dimensional accuracy. The tailored blank (TB) is a laser-welded or mash-seam-welded sheet metal with different thicknesses, different strengths, or different coatings. Recently, automotive manufacturers have been interested in tailored blanks because of their desire to improve the rigidity, weight reduction, crash durability, and cost savings. Therefore the application to auto-bodies has increased. However, as tailored blanks do not behave like un-welded blanks in press forming operations, stamping engineers no longer rely on conventional forming techniques. Field try-outs are very important manufacturing processes for an economic die-making. In the field try-outs, the rounded geometries of tool and the drawbead shape and size in die face are generally modified when the forming defects can not be removed by the adjustment of forming process parameters. In this study, the field try-outs of tailored door inner panel are introduced and evaluated. The behaviours of laser tailored blank associated with different thickness combinations in the forming process of door inner panel are described focusing on terms of experimental investigations on the formability.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.678-688
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• 2004

The U-draw bending operation is known as a representative test method for springback evaluation of sheet metals since the sheet in U-draw bending operation undergoes stretching, bending and unbending deformations occurred at the stamping process. In this study, a simplified approach was proposed for predicting springback and side-wall curls of tailor-welded blank in U-draw bending operations, using moment-curvature relationships derived for sheets undergoing stretching, bending and unbending deformation. Two different welded strips were adopted to compare the effects of weld-line locations on the springback. One (type A) was welded along the centerline of the strip-width and the other (type B) was welded along the centerline of the strip-length. To investigate the effect of different thickness combination on the springback, the tailor-welded strips were joined by the laser welding process and consisted of three types of thickness combinations of sheets, SCP1 0.8t ＊ SCP1 1.2t, SCP1 0.8t ＊ SCP1 1.6t and SCP1 0.8t ＊ TRIP 1.0t. Some calculated results by the simplified formula were compared with experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1997.03a
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• pp.37-41
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• 1997

Tailored Blanks are defined as two or more separate pieces of sheet material having the same or dissimilar thickness and/or physical properties, joined together before forming. Its application is being increased especially in the automotive industrial area for the cost reduction, weight saving, and improvement of strength. In this paper, the deforming behaviour of the laser welded blanks with regard to different thicknesses and combinations are described through some experimental investigations on the formability of a door inner. To investigate how the combination of thickness and material property influences the movement of welding line, a series of laser welded T/B blanks are tested.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 2001

For the Tailor Welded Blank sheet used fur automobile body panel, the characteristics of fatigue crack propagation behavior were studied. The thickness of specimen was machined to be same (0.9+0.9mm) and different (0.9+2.0mm). As a base test, mechanical properties around welding zone were examined. The results indicated that there were no significant decreases in mechanical properties, but hardness around welding bead is 2.3 times greater than base material. The crack propagation rate was noticeably decreased around welding line and rapidly increased as it passed by welding line. Reviewing the shape of the crack propagation, crack width around welding line was wide around the welding zone due to retardation of crack growth, but it became narrow passing welding line due to decreased toughness. Elasto-Plastic analysis was performed by finite element analysis fur explaining the test results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1998.03a
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• pp.32-35
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• 1998

The material properties and forrnabilities of tailored blanks are evaluated by experimental tests. In the tensile test, the gradient of strength coefficients of the heat affected zone associated with the welded line width represents the quality of a welded part. In the hemispherical dome punching test, the plane strain state of the welded line is observed. In the squared cupping test, the thin side is stretched more than the thick side in the stretch mode, while both sides are similarly stretched in the draw mode. In the 2D draw test, FLCo is measured in a simple manner and the forming defects of the tailored blanks with the same thickness are found.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.143-150
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• 2003

Experimental research has been carried out to investigate the characteristics of the fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior of Tailor Welded Blank(TB) sheet used for vehicle body. We used three types of specimens which were machined of the same base metal: one is 1.4mm thick, another is 1.6mm thick, and the third(TB specimen) is laser-welded of two specimens(1.4mm and 1.6mm thick ones). The results of tensile and hardness test indicate that the yield strength of the TB specimen is the highest, and the hardness around welding bead is higher than that of base metal. Fatigue strength and fatigue limit of the TB specimen are much superior to those of the base metal up to $10^6$ cycles. The fatigue crack propagation of the heat-affected zone of the TB specimen is slower than that of the base metal. Welding bead has the fastest crack Propagation in the low stress intensity factor range$(\DeltaK)$ region, but the slowest in the high $\DeltaK$ region. The fatigue propagation characteristic of the TB specimen is relatively stable in comparison with that of the base metal in the high ${\Delta}K$ region around over $28MPa\sqrt{m}$.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 1998

In order to analyze the tensile deformation characteristics of laser welded tailored blanks. laser welded blanks of different thikness and strength combinations were prepared and tensile tests were done. The tensile elongation along the direction perpendicular to weld line of laser welded blanks was reduced as increasing the deformation restraining force (strength X thicknes) ratio between two welded sheets and fracture occurred at weaker side of base sheets if void ration of welded sheets and fracture occurred at weaker side of base sheets if void ratio of weld section was less than 45% The tensile elongation along weld line reached above 90% of the elongation of base material if welding was done perfectly. Total elongation along the direction perpendicular to weld line was able to be predicted by force equilibrium and power law behavior of base sheets and it was related with the deformation of stronger sheet and formability of weaker side.