Effect of Seam Welding on Forming Limits of IF-Steel Sheet

Laser welding is the most commonly used process for producing Tailor Welded Blanks (TWB). Although laser welding is best suited for TWB applications, it is an expensive process. In this work an alternate cheap process, seam welding, is used to produce welded sheets of IF-steel of same grade and thickness. The effect of this welding on forming limit strains is explored in this work. Forming behavior is characterized by Forming Limit Diagram (FLD). The FLDs of welded blanks are compared with that of un-welded blanks. The effect of longitudinal, transverse and 45⁰ weld orientation on formability is studied. Weld location includes both centered and offset weld location in the transverse weld orientation. Numerical simulations are carried out by considering weld as a zone. Experimental results are compared with the predictions carried out by FE method.