• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1376-1380
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• 2005

In recent automotive industry, vehicle weight can be reduced by one-step forming of tailored blanks welded with two or more sheets of metal blanks. Tailored blank(TB) welding is a production method for blanks involving welding together materials of different quality, thickness, and coating, and has proved popular in fabrication automotive parts. This paper deals with the forming characteristics of mash seam welded tailored blanks. Using these forming characteristics, the bumper beam was developed using the mash seam welded tailored blank with the different thickness. We performed the forming simulation with respect to strain distribution on blank during the stamping of the bumper rail part. Based on these results, we made some stamping tryouts with selected types of blank designs to investigate the formability of tailored blank with different thickness. During the tryouts, we knew that it was important the BHF(Blank Holding Force). We obtained to reducing 10.5% weight and cost with adapting the bumper beam of automotive component using the tailored blank of mash seam welding.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1999.03b
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• pp.49-52
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• 1999

Tailored-welded blanks are used for forming of automobile structural and skin components. Its main objective is to achieve weight and production cost reduction in manufacturing of the components. For successful application of tailored-welded blanks design of initial welded blanks and prediction of welding line movement are critical. Here the utilization of the backward tracing scheme of the finite element method shows to be desirable in design of initial welded blanks for net-shape production and in prediction of the welding line movement. First the design of initial blank in forming of welded thick sheet with isotropy is tried and it appears successful in obtaining a net-shape stamping product. Based in the first approach the backward tracing scheme is applied to anisotropic tailored blank. The welding line movement is also discussed.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 1999

In this study, side panels were developed using the laser-welded tailored blank (T.B.) of both the same thickness and different thickness. At first, the formability of the same thickness T.B. was investigated to compare with one of the non-welded panel with respect to weldline movement and strain distribution in blank during the stamping process. Based on these results, we determined the weld line positions and the die step for T.B. forming of the blanks composed of different thickness combination. Then we made some stamping tryouts with selected types of blanks to investigate the formability of T.B. of the different thickness. During the tryouts, wrinkles were found in the a-pillar lower region which is under the deformation mode of the shrink flange. In the b-pillar region, fractures were also found. These defects have been reduced and corrected by controlling the blank design, the die faces and process parameters.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.354-363
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• 1998

In order to analyze the stretch forming characteristics of tailored blanks, laser welded blanks of different thickness and strength combinations were prepared and stretching tests were done. The stretching formability of laser welded blanks was reduced as increasing the deformation restraining force ($strength{\times}thickness$) ratio between two welded sheets. Weld line movement was attributed to strain concentration at weaker sheets and resulted in fracture at weaker sid, so that fracture could be predicted by the forming limit of the weak sheet. In the case of a welded blank with the similar deformation restraining force rations between two welded sheets, crack occurred at weld and its forming limit was about 15% less than the base sheet. The effects of lubrication and weld line position on stretch-ing formability were also investigated by experiments. Lower friction did not always give better formability for tailored blanks. Stretching formability was observed to be improved as increasing the area of weak sheet.

• 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.10 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2001

Laser welded tailored blanks(TB) are increasingly used in automotive parts. Among these, TB side panel has forming difficulties in stretch flanging areas such as front and center pillar lower region. To avoid splits in the stretch flanging areas, Proper design of blank shape and drawbeads are essential In this study, the forming simulaton is carried out to investigate the influences of blank shape and drawbeads on stretch flange formability of different thickness TB. And an optimization procedure including the effects of both the blank design and drawbeads is presented. The optimization procedure proposed in this study is expected to be effectively used in blank and die design of TB side panel.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.453-462
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• 2000

Tailor-welded blanks are used for forming of automobile structural skin components. The main objective of this study is to achieve weight and cost reduction in manufacturing of components. For successful application of tailor-welded blanks, design of initial welded blanks and prediction of the welding line movement are critical. The utilization of the backward tracing scheme of the finite element method shows to be desirable in design of initial welded blanks for net-shape production and in prediction of the welding line movement. First the design of the initial blank in forming of welded thick sheet with isotropy is tried, and it appears successful in obtaining a net-shape stamping product. Based on the first trial approach, the backward tracing scheme is applied to anisotropic tailored blanks. The welding line movement is also discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.102-109
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• 1998

In this study, the side panels were developed using the laser-welded Tailored Blanks (TB) with both the same thickness and the different thickness. At first, the formability of the same thickness T.B was investigated to be compared with one of the non welded panel with respect to weldline movements and strain distribution on blank during the stamping. Based on these results, we selected candidates of T.B with different thickness for stamping experiments. That is, we determined the weld line positions and the die step. Then we made some stamping tryouts with selected types of blank designs to investigate the formability of T.B with different thickness. During the tryouts, the wrinkles were found in the a-pillar lower region which is under the deformation mode of the shrink flange. In the b-pillar region, the fractures were found also, these defects have been reduced and corrected by controlling the blank design and the die faces and process pamameters.

• 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.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 1999

In this paper, weldability and formability of Tailored-Blank (TB) and the structural impact testing of bump beam were investigated to apply TB to automobile bumper beam. The optimal $CO_2$ laser welding condition for TB of SPFC and SPRC steel plates with different thicknesses was obtained. Before welding, the cross section of butt joint was prepared only by shearing without milling process. Real type bump beam was produced by two kind of forming processes such as roll-forming and press-forming, and the good formability of TB was obtained. Impact test results of bump by using pendulum and barrier were satisfied the impact regulation of bump. Finally. It may be confirmed that laser welded TB is well-balanced material in both weight reduction and production cost of automobile bump.