Journal Article
Lightweight Potential and Crash Performance of Friction Stir Welded Tailored Blanks
2023-06-26
2023-01-1220
Previous research papers presented methods for joining different aluminium or steel sheets of the same thickness using the friction stir welding process with flat tools. A novel variant of the friction stir welding process has been developed by the Materials Testing Institute of the University of Stuttgart, enabling the joining of aluminium and steel sheets of different thicknesses in order to further increase the lightweight potential of sheet metal components. Compared to the conventional welding method, the difference of this method relates to the stir welding tool used, which consists of a stepped welding pin and allows combined lap-and-butt joints to be produced. In this context, this paper aims to demonstrate the lightweight potential and the crash performance of Tailor Welded Blanks (TWBs) made from DX54(1 mm) and AL6016 - T4 (2 mm). For this purpose, the first step was to identify possible parts of car body structures that could be replaced by components made from these TWBs.