A Study on the Evaluation of Mechanical Characteristics for Tailor Welded Blank Panel

Abstract

There are many methods to reduce the weight and the cost of the automobile body, among them, Tailor Welded Blank (TWB) is new welding method applied to body structure. It is necessary to evaluate mechanical properties of TWB structures or sheets for the application to automobile body parts. In this study, the stiffness of T-type and L-type joint structures, composite of TWB panel, which simplified two portions of side structure in automobile body were investigated. Additionally, the fatigue properties of TWB panels were obtained. Two types of welding technologies, laser and mash seam welding, were used to join mild panels with different thickness. This results are compared with conventional structures. The results are as follows: 1) The stiffness of joint structures, composite of TWB panel, is approximately 17% higher than that of conventional ones. 2) The location of welding line in TWB had a effect on the in plane bending stiffness, but not on the out of plane bending stiffness. 3) In terms of welding technology type, the mash seam welding show higher stiffness than the laser welding for in plane bending stiffness. But minimal differences in both types are revealed for out of plane bending stiffness. 4) The fatigue strength, composite of TWB panel, is lower than that of base steel. It is thought that defects in the welding zone had the action of notch in the fatigue test.