Sustainability aspects in the warm forming of tailor welded blanks

Abstract

Tailor welded blank (TWB) technology has been used in the manufacture of automobile body-in-white components since a long time. These components consist of different materials/thicknesses. Researchers and manufacturers involved with production of warm formed TWB components failed to address the sustainable issues related to warm forming. Rather they concentrated more on reducing the weld line movement (WLM). The WLM if not arrested shall lead to fracture, due to wrinkles, produced during forming. In this paper, the sustainability aspects involved in the warm forming of TWB were discussed with respect to energy and material savings. The results show a reduction of about 50% punch load in a hydraulic press during deep drawing under warm forming conditions. This paper addresses the questions related to the implications of thickness ratio on the weld line movement and further shows how material savings of nearly 33% has been obtained. It also discusses about the carbon emissions during manufacturing of raw materials and the recycling benefits of stainless steel, so as to minimize emissions at the production stage itself during raw materials production.