According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, disclosed is an aluminum coated blank that includes a first coated steel sheet; a second coated steel sheet connected to the first coated steel sheet; and a joint portion that connects the first coated steel sheet to the second coated steel plate at a boundary between the first coated steel sheet and the second coated steel sheet.

In one aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus for manipulating a plurality of curved sheets is provided. Each of the plurality of curved sheets includes an upper surface and a lower surface. The apparatus includes tooling to be coupled to the upper surface of each of the plurality of curved sheets. The tooling is capable of moving the plurality of curved sheets relative to each other and abutting the plurality of curved sheets so that the upper surface of each of the plurality of curved sheets is coextensive with a virtual arcuate surface. The apparatus also includes a welding apparatus capable of welding the plurality of curved sheets together after abutting the plurality of curved sheets.

There is provided a component joining structure that includes: a resin component; a metal tip that is provided in the resin component by insert molding, and that includes protruding portions that protrude from the resin component; and a metal component that is spot welded to the protruding portions, and that is joined to the resin component by an adhesive agent that is provided in gaps formed, by the protruding portions, between the resin component and the metal component.

A method for manufacturing structural steel components with local reinforcement is provided. The method comprises selecting at least a zone of the component to be reinforced, providing a steel blank and deforming the blank in a press tool to form a product, wherein the blank and/or the product comprises a groove in the zone to be reinforced, the groove comprising an inner surface and an outer surface. The method further comprises depositing a reinforcement material on the inner surface of groove and locally heating the reinforcement material and the groove of the steel blank or product, to mix the melted reinforcement material with the melted portion of the steel blank or product.

A method of manufacturing tailor welded blanks includes bringing a pair of objects to be welded into contact with each other. The objects are formed of different materials having different thicknesses or strengths. The method further includes adjusting the heat input of a radiated laser beam and dividing the radiated laser beam into a preceding laser beam and a following laser beam in a welding direction using an optical prism. The method further includes forming a welded part by sequentially radiating the preceding laser beam and the following laser beam to the pair of objects to be welded while supplying a filler wire to welded regions of the pair of objects to be welded.

A tailor-welded blank is created by forming a blank from a steel of composition A and a steel of composition B and welding said two steels together, heating said welded blank to a temperature above the Ac1 temperature associated with the steel of composition A, transferring said blank to a forming die, and then cooling said blank to a temperature between the martensite start temperature and martensite finish temperature of the steel of composition B and holding said blank at such temperature or at a higher temperature, cooling said blank to room temperature. The tailor-welded blank comprises Alloy A and Alloy B, wherein Alloy A comprises 0.10-0.50 wt % C, 0.1-0.5 wt % Si, 2.0-8.0 wt % Mn, 0-6.0 wt % Cr, 0.0-2 wt % Mo, and 0.0-0.005 wt % B and wherein Alloy B comprises 0.06-0.12 wt % C, 0.1-0.25 wt % Si, 1.65-2.42 wt % Mn, 0.0-0.70 wt % Cr, 0.08-0.40 wt % Mo, 0.0-0.05 wt % V, 0.01-0.05 wt % Ti, and 2 wt % Al or less, and wherein said tailor-welded blank is subject to a quench and partition thermal cycle in a forming die.

A tailor-welded blank is made of two steels, one steel of Alloy A and one steel of Alloy B. Alloy A comprises 0.10-0.50 wt % C, 0.1-0.5 wt % Si, 2.0-8.0 wt % Mn, 0.0-6.0 wt % Cr, 0.0-2.0 wt % Mo, 0.0-0.15 wt % Ti, and 0.0-0.005 wt % B and wherein Alloy B comprises 0.06-0.12 wt % C, 0.1-0.25 wt % Si, 1.65-2.42 wt % Mn, 0.0-0.70 wt % Cr, 0.08-0.40 wt % Mo, 0.0-0.05 wt % V, and 0.01-0.05 wt % Ti.

To increase cycle time, and therefore to lower production costs, in the industrial production of welded sheet metal partsin particular tailored blanks for the automotive industrythe invention describes a method based on a constant-speed conveying system and a flying optics system, which method manages without complex cooling of the hot weld seam and uses means for holding the workpieces on one side with a high force on the conveyor belt. In this way it is possible greatly to reduce the negative influence the blank spacing has on the cycle time of the machine. Overall, fewer drives are required in the machine and it is possible for a simplified machine concept to be employed without detriment to the quality of the blanks to be welded.

A method of laser welding a workpiece stack-up (10) of overlapping steel workpieces (12, 14) involves heat-treating a region (64) of the stack-up (10) followed by forming a laser weld joint (66) that is located at least partially within the heat-treated region (64). During heat-treating, one or more pre-welding laser beams (68) are sequentially directed at a top surface (20) of the workpiece stack-up (10) and advanced along a pre-welding beam travel pattern (70) so as to reduce an amount of vaporizable zinc within the stack-up (10). Thereafter, the laser weld joint (66) is formed by directing a welding laser beam (82) at the top surface (20) of the workpiece stack-up (10) and advancing the welding laser beam (82) along a welding beam travel pattern (84) that at least partially overlaps with a coverage area of a pre-welding beam travel pattern (70) or a shared coverage area portion of multiple pre-welding beam travel patterns (70). The method can help reduce an amount of vaporizable zinc within the stack-up (10).

A joint structure includes a first metallic material having a first projection, a second metallic material similar in type to the first metallic material and weldable to the first metallic material, and a different type of material having a first penetrating part and sandwiched between the first metallic material and the second metallic material, the different type of material being different in type from the first metallic material and the second metallic material and difficult to be welded to the first metallic material and the second metallic material. The first projection is smaller in diameter or width than the first penetrating part and is spaced from the rim of the first penetrating part by a first gap. The first projection is positioned in the first penetrating part and is spaced from the second metallic material by a second gap in the thickness direction of the first penetrating part. The second gap has a size of a predetermined percentage of the thickness of the first projection of the first metallic material to which arc welding id applied. The first metallic material and the second metallic material are melted and joined together inside the first penetrating part to compress and fix the different type of material, so that the different type of material, the first metallic material, and the second metallic material are fixed together.