Effect of differential heat treatment on the formability of aluminium tailor welded blanks

Tailor welded blanks (TWBs) are blanks that are tailor made to suit the required function. They are made by joining blanks of different thicknesses, materials, coatings, etc. The forming behaviour of such TWBs will be different from the conventional blanks, as TWBs with different strength levels will be subjected to the same forming loads but will result in unequal deformation values. The present work is aimed at studying the formability behaviour of TWBs of two different materials namely AA6061 and AA2014. The blanks were made by friction stir welding process at different rotational speeds, welding speeds and tool tilt angles on a vertical head milling machine. The formability of the TWBs and the base materials has been studied before and after solution heat treatment and analysed with the help of Limiting Dome Height (LDH) test. A differential heat treatment approach has been followed, which is unique in this work. From the results, it was found that the formability of heat treated TWBs were higher than those of base materials and untreated TWBs. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.