Formability of Friction Stir-Welded Blanks with Different Thickness Ratios

Welded sheets with different thicknesses are one of the interesting types of tailor-welded blanks (TWBs) that are widely used in metal-forming industries. In the present work, the formability behavior of different 1100-aluminum TWBs was studied. In this regard, the TWBs were made with different thickness ratios by using friction stir welding (FSW) at different welding rotational speeds (ω). The thickness ratios of 1.0, 1.3, and 1.7 were investigated where the thinner sheets had 1.5 mm thick for all conditions; i.e., the volume of welded material increased when the thickness ratio increased. Macrostructural observations, mechanical investigations, and sheet-forming limit tests were conducted. The results indicate that increasing ω leads to increasing the weld nugget size up to a maximum level and welding became impossible at higher ω. Furthermore, increasing heat input during FSW, the ultimate tensile strength of welds reduced in comparison with the initial cold-worked base metal. However, the ductility improved by increasing the heat input, which produced the sound welds. Formability studies of the friction stir-welded blanks with equal thicknesses have shown that the forming ratio improves up to 2.8 times the base metal. Forming limit curves also illustrate that increasing the thickness ratio of TWB causes the formability ratio to decrease steadily. Thus, when the thickness ratio becomes 1.7, the formability of TWB decreases approximately to the thinnest base metal.