Investigation into the formability of Al-1050 tailor-welded blanks with antilock braking system

Tailor-welded blanks (TWBs) have been widely used in the automotive industry as they reduce car weight and manufacturing cost. A new deep drawing system with an antilock braking system (ABS) was used for the improvement formability of tailor-welded blanks. In this study, Al-1050 aluminum alloy sheets, having a thickness of 1.5 and 2 mm, were welded using both a metal inert gas (MIG) and a laser welding. The effect of the conventional and ABS methods on the limiting drawing ratio (LDR), punch force, weld line movement, and wall thickness is investigated. The experimental results showed that tailored blanks produced using laser welding are not suited for deep drawing. In contrast, however, the MIG-welded blanks are suitable for deep drawing. These TWBs were deep drawn with both the conventional and ABS methods. The ABS method improved the LDR from 2.06 to 2.15 and decreased the maximum load from 17.31 to 16.53 kN when compared with the conventional method.