• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.53-59
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• 1999

Recently, Tailor Welded Blank (TWB) is widely used in automotive industry since the transformation characteristic of its material can be changed. However, clearance between welding surfaces becomes the important factor which affect the quality of the laser weld, causing difficulties in preparing the sheet. The objective of this paper is to systematically evaluate the effects of previously presented fracture criterion and shearing condition on precise mechanical shearing simulation result. For this purpose, a parametric study was peformed to investigate the effect of finite element size and fracture criterion on simulation result. Also, in order to predict the optimum shearing condition, effect of shearing conditions such as clearance and punch radius on the shear plane shape was evaluated.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1312-1316
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• 2007

Strip casted and rolled magnesium sheet is become exiting material for car manufacturer, due to its better formability and specific strength compare with conventional extruded sheet. TWB technology was attractive for car body designer, because it saves the weight of the car without strength loss. In this study, the laser welding performance of magnesium sheet was investigated for Mg TWB panel manufacturing. The material was strip casted and rolled magnesium alloy sheet contains 3 wt% Al and 1 wt% Zn (AZ31). Lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser of 2kW was used and its laser light was delivered by optical fiber of 0.6mm core diameter to material surface with focusing optics of 200mm focal length for TWB welding. The microstructure of weld bead was investigated to check internal defects such as inclusion, porosity and cracks. Also mechanical properties and formability were evaluated for press forming of car body. For the results, there was no crack but inclusion or porosity on weld at some conditions.The tensile strength of weld was over 95% of base metal. Inner and outer panel of engine hood were press formed and assembled at elevated temperature.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.224-232
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• 2012

In this study, the effect of hot-stamping heat treatment on the microstructure and hardness of TWB(Tailor Welded Blank) laser joints in Al-Si-coated boron steel and Zn-coated DP(Dual Phase)590 steel was investigated. In the TWB joints without heat treatment, hardness profiles showed local hardness deviation near the fusion zone. However, there was no hardness deviation in the heat treated specimen and its hardness was higher than that of the one without the heat treatment, due to a fully martensite microstructure. In the TWB joints of both the boron and DP steels, the maximum hardnesses were observed at the HAZ(Heat Affected Zone) near the base metal, and the hardness decreased gradually to the base metal. In the heat treated joints, the hardnesses of the HAZ and the base metal of the boron steel side were similar to the maximum hardness of the weld, while those of the HAZ and the base metal of the DP steel side were higher than the maximum hardness.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.455-462
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• 2012

Al-Si coated boron steel and Zn coated DP steel plates were laser-welded to manufacture a Tailor Welded Blank (TWB) for a car body frame. Hot-stamping heat treatment ($900^{\circ}C$, 5 min) was applied to the TWB weld, and the microstructural change and transformation mechanism were investigated in the Al-rich area near the bond line of the Al-Si coated steel side. There was Al-rich area with a single phase, $Fe_3(Al,Si)$, which was transformed to ${\alpha}-Fe$ (Ferrite) after the heat treatment. It could be explained that the $Fe_3(Al,Si)$ phase was transformed to ${\alpha}-Fe$ during heat treatment at $900^{\circ}C$ for 5 min and the resultant ${\alpha}-Fe$ phase was not transformed by rapid cooling. Before the heat treatment, the microstructures around the $Fe_3(Al,Si)$ phase consisted of martensite, bainite and ${\alpha}-Fe$ while they were transformed to martensite and ${\delta}-Fe$ after the heat treatment. Due to the heat treatment, Al was diffused to the $Fe_3(Al,Si)$ and this resulted in an increase of Al content to 0.7 wt% around the Al-rich area. If the weld was held at $900^{\circ}C$ for 5 min it was transformed to a mixture of austenite (${\gamma}$) and ${\delta}-Fe$, and only ${\gamma}$ was transformed to the martensite by water cooling while the ${\delta}-Fe$ was remained unchanged.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.283-291
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• 2012

In order to increase the anti-oxidation property during the tailor welding blanked hot press forming process for a high strength boron steel sheet, we performed a different coating method on the boron-steel sheet such as 87% Al - 13% Si and Fe - 8.87 Zn dipping plating procedure. However, during laser welding process, the Al-Si coated steel sheet has showed a low tensile strength and about half value of elongation than the original boron-steel sheet. Aluminum and silicon, elements of coating layer were diffused into the boron-steel matrix and have shown a low strength result than non-coated specimen. On the other hand, Zinc-coated boron-steel has expectedly showed a excellent tensile strength and micro-harness value in the welded area like original boron-steel.