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.

A support tube for a camshaft may include at least one setting region for setting at least one component and a free region adjoining the setting region. The support tube may further include a tube wall that has a varying thickness. In the setting region, the tube wall may exhibit a wall thickness that is greater than the wall thickness of the tube wall in the free region. Furthermore, a method for producing such a support tube may involve forming a profiled strip material with varying wall thickness into the support tube. In some cases the tube wall of the support tube may be hydroformed.

A panel assembly is formed by a plurality of bonds between two sheet materials in a face to face relationship to form a preform. The plurality of bonds define a closed perimeter region between the two sheet materials and an open perimeter region between the two sheet materials. The preform may be formed into a predefined shape. Pressurized fluid is applied through an inlet into the open perimeter region to expand the preform. The pressurized fluid expands the open perimeter region such that the two sheet materials expand in an opposing direction, thereby defining an expanded open perimeter region. The closed perimeter region between the two sheet materials remains vacant of the pressurized fluid such that the closed perimeter region is not expanded. The expanded open perimeter region is filled with a filler material for improving a performance characteristic of the panel assembly, e.g., strength, sound absorption, or stiffness.

A method of manufacturing a large- or medium-sized wheel disk including using a punch or die in a first step of ironing a blank of a flat plate to a first-stage product. The first-stage product having a cylindrical rising portion with an axially non-constant thickness. The rising portion includes a thick portion located at a tip portion of the rising portion and a thickness-reduced portion which is a remaining portion of the rising portion excluding the thick portion. During the first step, only a portion of the blank corresponding to the thickness-reduced portion is ironed.

Method for producing a component system having a first component with a first component portion and a second component with a second component portion, including the following steps: connecting, in particular welding or soldering, the first component portion, which consists of an aluminum alloy, to the second component portion, which in particular consists of a naturally aged aluminum alloy, a copper alloy or an iron alloy, in particular a steel alloy, so as to form a connection seam; artificially aging the connection seam such that the yield strength of the connection seam is above the yield strength of the first component portion and/or of the second component portion; and deforming, in particular deep-drawing and/or stretch-drawing, the component system.

A method for producing a shaped sheet metal component having wall thicknesses differing from each other is disclosed including providing a sheet metal material having a constant wall thickness, pre-shaping the sheet metal material into a preform by means of a hold-down press, producing at least one bulge in an inner region such that the material is stretched and has a reduced wall thickness, flattening and/or extending the produced preform, cutting the sheet metal material in order to form a blank before, during, or after the pre-shaping, and shaping the blank into the shaped sheet metal component.

A method for producing a motor vehicle component with at least two regions of different strengths and a protective layer, consisting of the following process steps: providing precoated blanks made of a steel alloy, which can be hardened, homogeneously heating to a heating temperature, which is at least greater than or equal to the AC1 temperature, preferably greater than or equal to the AC3 temperature, holding the heating temperature, so that the precoating alloys with the blank, homogeneously intercooling the alloyed blank to an intercooling temperature between 450 deg. C. and 700 deg. C., partially heating the blank from the intercooling temperature to at least the AC3 temperature in regions of the first type and holding regions of the second type at substantially intercooling temperature, hot forming and press hardening the partially tempered blank so as to form the motor vehicle component, wherein a tensile strength of greater than 1400 MPa is produced in regions of the first type, a tensile strength of less than 1050 MPa is produced in regions of the second type, and a transition region is produced between said regions.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a vehicle skeleton member, the skeleton member including one or more groove-shaped portions extending in a predetermined direction, the method including an extrusion step and a press-working step. In the extrusion step, a sheet-shaped member including one or more first sheet-shaped portions each having a band-like shape, which extend in the predetermined direction, and second sheet-shaped portions each having a band-like shape, which extend in the predetermined direction along end portions of the first sheet-shaped portion in a width direction of the first sheet-shaped member and each have a sheet thickness smaller than a sheet thickness of the first sheet-shaped portion, is manufactured by using an extrusion molding method. In the press-working step, the sheet-shaped member is pressed so that at least part of a bottom wall portion of the groove-shaped portion is formed of the first sheet-shaped portion and side wall portions of the groove-shaped portion are formed of the second sheet-shaped portions, respectively.

A method of making a sheet metal component from a tailored blank includes altering an initial blank formed from a first material to form the tailored blank by at least one of (i) coupling additional material to a portion of the first material, and (ii) removing the first material from a portion of the initial blank. The method also includes forming the sheet metal component from the tailored blank by an incremental sheet forming process.

A rotary crimping tool assembly includes a tool housing defining a crimping chamber, and one or more crimp wheels within the crimping chamber. The crimping chamber is configured to receive the portion of the structure in proximity to the crimp wheel(s). The crimp wheel(s) are configured to be pressed into and rotated relative to the portion of the structure to form one or more crimps in the portion of the structure.