To understand the bending behaviors of the tailor welded blanks with the base materials of advanced high strength steel, three-point bending tests were conducted using experiment and the finite element method. A finite element model for the three point bending test was established for the tailor welded blanks. By comparing the load-displacement curve from the experimental results with the results from the finite element analysis, the maximum differrence was 10.94%, showing that the results from the finite element analysis well agreed with the test results. Based on the established model, the effects of the friction coefficient and the thickness ratio were probed. Results indicated that the uneven deformation and related weld-bead migration were observed. The influences of the friction between the tools and specimens and the thickness ratio were obvious on the bending behaviors. As the friction coefficient increased, the peak load and the maximum energy as well as the bending stress increased, while the weld-bead migration decreased first and then remained at a certain level when the friction coefficientdecreased to some extent. When the thickness ratio increased, the four aforementioned parameters increased with different degrees.

advanced high strength steel  /  tailor welded blanks  /  three point bending test