Hot stamping of AA6082 tailor welded blanks: experiment and FE simulation

An advanced forming technology, solution Heat treatment, Forming and in-die Quenching (HFQ^®), has been employed to form AA6082 tailor welded blanks (TWBs). In comparison with conventional stamping of TWBs, the mechanical properties and formability of AA6082 laser TWBs could be improved under the HFQ^® forming condition. The TWB was divided into three physical zones, i.e. base metal, heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld zone, based on the hardness distribution. It was found that the degraded hardness of the weldment can be restored after HFQ^® forming. TWBs of AA6082 with different thickness ratios of 2 (2-1 mm), 1.3 (2-1.5 mm) and 1 (1.5-1.5 mm) were used to study the TWB thickness ratio effects on the forming behaviour. Hemispherical punch dome tests on the TWBs with varying thickness ratios demonstrated different formabilities, and indicated increased displacement of the weld line with increasing thickness ratio. Finite element (FE) modelling was adopted to analyse the weld line movement and strain distributions during HFQ^® forming.