Laser tailor welding of aluminum alloy sheet and cup axon formability of TWB

The process and forming performance of laser tailor-welded board(TWB) of 6061 aluminum alloy were studied.The forming characteristics of TWB in the cup axon trials and the influence of welded beam on overall plastic forming of tailor-welded plate were analyzed.The cupping test results of laser TWB shows that the cracking generally appears in the narrow HAZ.The cupping index of TWB was slightly lower than that of base metal.During the numerical simulation process of cupping test with DYNAFORM software,only the location of the welded beam was considered but its type was ignored,and the results showed that the simulation cracking of the TWB easily occurred at the welded seam below the cupping head with the influence of the welded seam,and the simulation results were slightly different from the practical tests,which was possibly related to the set of the welded seam.