Effect of anisotropy on the deep-drawing of mild steel and dual-phase steel tailor-welded blanks

Tailor-welded blanks made of dissimilar, uniform or non-uniform thickness materials have potential applications in automobile industries. Compared to the base metal, the formability of tailor-welded blank is less due to the presence of weld area and strength mismatch between component blanks. Most sheet metals used to produce tailor-welded blanks have anisotropy induced during pre-processing stage due to large deformation. The orientation of the blank sheet rolling direction and the combination of the blank sheet materials has significant influence on the deformation behaviour. The effect of anisotropy in the tailor-welded blank and the orientation of blank sheets rolling direction during deep-drawing process are investigated in this study. Finite element analysis of deep-drawing mild steel and dual-phase steel tailor-welded blank models was carried out using research purpose FE code DD3IMP; to form a basis for tailor-welded blank design and development for a part. Anisotropy in the blank sheets has moderate influence and its contribution to increased material flow depends on the mechanical properties of the blank sheets. Appropriate combination of the blank sheets rolling direction orientation can significantly improve the formability of the tailor-welded blank in the deep-drawing of square cup. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All fights reserved.