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Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Materials Research and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmrt

An investigation on the laser welding process parameter effects on the

failure mode of tailor welded blanks during the formability testing
Rasoul Safdarian a, *, Mohsen Sheikhi b, Mohammad Javad Torkamany c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Qom University of Technology, Qom, Iran
b
Department of Materials Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, 65178-38695, Iran
c
Iranian National Center for Laser Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: L Murr The ability to produce high-quality weld with the least distortion and heat affected zone width by the Nd:YAG
laser welding process has made it one of the best candidates for steel tailor welded blanks (TWBs). The effect of
Keywords: process parameters including laser peak power, pulse duration, welding speed, and thickness ratio on the me­
Laser welding chanical properties and failure modes of TWBs were investigated. TWBs was made of St12 carbon steel sheets
Tailor welded blank
with different thickness of 0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm. The weld zone hardness profile in all samples followed a
Design of experiment (DOE)
similar pattern, in that the maximum hardness was in the weld metal and gradually fell throughout the heat
Erichsen test
Failure modes affected zone (HAZ) until it reached the hardness of the base metal at the end of the HAZ and the hardness of
Hardness weld metal increased as the average joint thickness increased. Based on the distribution of hardness in different
regions of the weld zone a simple model was proposed for failure mode. Weld metal failure mode (WFM)
happened as a result of weld metal thickness reduction caused by incomplete weld penetration or excessive
penetration. The heat input per unit volume of weld in thin sheet (Hin) was defined as a criterion that determines
failure mode. Therefore, a qualitative criterion was proposed for the prediction of failure mode. Based on this
simple model, there is an appropriate limit for Hin for all thickness ratios at which the failure mode is base metal
failure mode (BFM). The WMF happens at values lower and higher than this appropriate value range. The ex­
periments approved that BFM and the highest formability and joint strength were obtained when 11J/
mm3<Hin<37J/mm3.

1. Introduction
Tailor welded blanks (TWBs) consist of two or more sheets with
different strengths or thickness which joint together with one of the
welding methods [1]. Weight reduction and strength improvement of
structure and components are the main advantages of TWBs. Because of
these beneficial characteristics, these blanks are mainly used in the
automotive and aviation industries. Using TWBs in the automotive body
parts not only decreases its weight which leads to a reduction of fuel
consumption, but also diminishes production costs. Although TWBs
have proven to be advantageous in promoting weight reduction across
different industries, there are certain drawbacks that arise during their
formation. These drawbacks can be attributed to defects resulting from
the improper selection of welding methods or parameters during TWB
production, as well as those that occur during the forming process itself.
Since laser welding is one of the best methods for welding of steel sheets
with minimum heat affected zone, parameters of this welding method
play a pivotal role in the weld soundness [2]. On one hand, defects like
weld line movement can occur during the forming of TWBs due to the
nature of these blanks, which consist of two or more blanks with
different properties, or due to the improper selection of blank holder
force [3]. On the other hand, defects such as lack of penetration,
porosity, and undercut, resulting from the inappropriate selection of
laser welding parameters, can lead to TWB fractures at the weld line
during the forming process. This topic is the primary focus of the current
study and will be thoroughly explored further. Shue et al. [4] used a
non-uniform pressure field created by heterogeneous elastomers and its
potential use in controlling the deformation of TWBs. A modified
three-region model was proposed to describe the structure of TWBs
based on microhardness distribution, and finite element models were
established to validate the approach. Wang et al. [5] introduced a new
method to control forming defects in the forming process of TWBs. This

* Corresponding author. Qom University of Technology, Qom, Iran.

E-mail addresses: safdarian@qut.ac.ir (R. Safdarian), sheikhi.mohsen@basu.ac.ir (M. Sheikhi), mjtorkamany@yahoo.com (M.J. Torkamany).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.12.061
Received 25 October 2023; Received in revised form 6 December 2023; Accepted 6 December 2023
Available online 9 December 2023
2238-7854/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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R. Safdarian et al.
method includes edge and notch cutting to reduce the number of
stamping tools and address forming defects. Measurable indices such as
thinning index, thickening index, and minimum distance between ma­
terial draw-in and trimming lines were defined to analyze the numerical
results. The proposed method offers guidance for controlling defects in
the deep drawing of TWBs for complex-shaped automotive panels. There
are many studies on the production and forming of TWBs and related
drawbacks. Gong et al. [6] investigated the mechanical properties of
dissimilar TWBs from advanced and ultra-high-strength steel by using
experimental tests. They used digital image correlation (DIC) and
infrared thermography (IR) techniques to study the strain and temper­
ature variations. Nafar Dehsorkhi et al. [7] studied the effect of laser
welding parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of
ultrafine-grained 304L stainless steel. They used Nd: YAG laser welding
with different parameters of frequency, laser current, welding time, and
laser pulse duration to join 304L stainless steel. The results showed that
the welding time was the most important parameter affecting the weld
strength. Oyyaravelu, Kuppan, and Arivazhagan [8] investigated the
mechanical and metallurgical properties of Nd: YAG laser welded high
strength low alloy (HSLA). The results indicated that the highest hard­
ness was in the fusion zone due to the formation of martensite and also
the enrichment of carbon. The yield strength and ultimate strength of
welded blanks were higher than the base metals. Yuce et al. [9] inves­
tigated the effect of laser welding parameters of laser power, welding
speed, and focal position on the mechanical and microstructure prop­
erties of HSLA and martensitic steel using the Taguchi approach. Their
results indicated that the optimum laser welding parameters were speed
of 45 mm/s, laser power of 1750 W, and focal position of − 0.4 mm.
Bandyopadhyay et al. [10] used the laser welding method to produce
TWBs with similar and different base metal from dual phase steels
(DP600, DP980) and interstitial free (IF) steel. The hardness, metallo­
graphic and tensile properties of welded samples were investigated and
the Erichsen cupping test was used for the formability investigation of
TWBs. Their results indicated that in the TWBs with different base
metals, the weld line movement toward the stronger side caused failure
in the weaker side of TWBs. They used the thickness gradient criterion
and Marciniak-Kuczynski model in the finite element (FE) models to
predict the failure of TWBs. Safdarian et al. [3] investigated the form­
ability and weld line movement in the TWBs forming. Their results
showed that the weld line movement increased by thickness ratio and
strength ratio increasing of TWBs. Safdarian [11] investigated the effect
of strength ratio on the FLD level of TWBs by doing the experimental
tests. For this purpose, three different steel sheets of AISI304, St12 and
St14 were used to produce three different TWBs by laser welding pro­
cess. Results showed that FLD level decreased by the strength ratio
increasing of TWBs. Safdarian [12] used the GTN damage model in the
numerical simulation for FLD prediction of AISI304-St12 TWB produced
by Nd: YAG laser welding. Qianqian et al. [13] investigated the laser
welding of low carbon steel to 6061 aluminum alloy using fiber laser.
Their results indicated that crack formation which grew along the
intermetallic layer induced by the gap between the steel and aluminum.
He, Qin, and Jiang [14] studied the effect of laser welding parameters of
laser power, welding speed and coating condition on the microstructure
and mechanical properties of laser welded Al–Si coated hot stamping
steel. Their results showed that tensile shear load increased by
increasing of laser power or welding speed decrease. Safdarian Kor­
ouyeh et al. [15] investigated the effect of thickness ratio in the form­
ability of St12 TWBs with different thickness produced by Nd:YAG laser
welding. Their results indicated that forming limit diagram (FLD) of
TWBs decreased by thickness ration increase of TWBs. Siltanen [16]
studied the effect of laser welding parameters of laser power and
welding speed on the mechanical properties of steel. The results indi­
cated that weld quality decreased by using high laser power. Kumar and
Sinha [17] investigated the mechanical properties and microstructure of
pulsed Nd: YAG laser welding of St37 carbon steel. Their results indi­
cated that the microhardness of fusion zone was 192HV which was more
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than HAZ and base metal. Prabakaran and Kannan [18] optimized the
parameters of the laser welding process for AISI316 and AISI1018 by
using the Taguchi method. The variable parameters were laser power,
welding speed, and focal distance. Their results showed that the optimal
parameters were laser power of 2600 W, welding speed of 1.5 m/min
and focal distance of 20 mm. Balajaddeh and Naffakh-Moosavy [19]
studied the microstructure and weldability of 17-4 PH stainless steel
welded by Nd: YAG laser welding. Their results from tensile test of
welded samples indicated that the ductile fracture happened in the base
metal. Singhal et al. [20] studied the formability of steel TWBs with
equal thickness using various forming standard tests such as tensile test,
limit dome height tests and bulge test. The hardening curve of heat
affected zone (HAZ) and weld zone was approximated by comparing the
hardness of base metal and these zones. Aminzadeh et al. [21] studied
the formability of similar and dissimilar TWBs produced by laser beam
welding (LBW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) in the deep
drawing process. Their results indicated that the weld soundness of
similar TWBs produced by GTAW was more than same TWBs produced
by LBW. Amini and Alavi Nia [22] studied the effect of strain rate on the
tensile behavior of TWBs with different thicknesses manufactured by
fiber laser. Their results showed that ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of
TWB and base metals improved with the increase in strain rate. The UTS
and yield strength of TWB were higher than the base metals at various
strain rates. Otzurk and Arikan [23] used Co2 laser welding to produce
TWB from DP600 and DP800 with thicknesses of 1.8 mm and 0.8 mm,
respectively. The numerical analysis was used to investigate the
micromechanical analysis of microstructures using representative vol­
ume element (RVE). Their results indicated that strain localization de­
pends on the thickness ratio while stress distribution depends on
thickness ratio of TWB and grain size of constituents. Vukkum et al. [24]
used laser welding method to produced TWB from different base metals
of dual-phase and interstitial-free (IF) steel. Their results indicated that
martensitic structures is the main microstructure in the fusion zone
while ferrite fractions and the number fraction of high-angle grain
boundaries increased from weld center to base metal regions. Their re­
sults showed that thickness ratio of TWBs plays an active role in the
formability improvement of TWBs. Aminzadeh et al. [25] studied
formability of TWBs and welding intelligent system in Industry 4.0. They
mainly focused on the challenges associated with aluminum laser wel­
ded blanks and their formability. Shu et al. [4] investigated the effect of
non-uniform pressure in the deformation of TWBs using inharmonious
elastomers and mechanism in the numerical and experimental tests. The
results showed that deformation uniformity increased by the decrease of
shore hardness ratio of heterogeneous elastomers. Touileb et al. [26]
studied the effect of laser welding parameters consist of power beam,
welding speed, focus point, and shield gas on bead profile of AISI 316
stainless steel. The response surface methodology was used to investi­
gate the weld depth, aspect ratio (the ratio of penetration depth and
weld width) and the bead cross section profile. Their results indicated
that the focus point was the main factor with contribution of 19.32 %
that influence the depth weld while the combination effect of power
input and focus point affects depth weld with contribution of 10.5 %.
Chen, Lin, and Liu [27] used finite element method to study the effect of
thickness ratio of TWB on the limit dome height and failure mode. They
suggested the value of 1.065 as critical thickness ratio (CTR) as failure
mode of TWBs. Based on their suggestion the failure happens in the
thinner side of TWBs when the thickness ratio (TR) is more than CTR and
on the weld line when when the TR is less than CTR. Shakeri et al. [28]
investigated the failure mode of TWBs during limit dome height (LDH)
test by considering three different TR for base metals of TWBs. They also
considered three different weld orientations of longitudinal, transverse,
and 45◦ for weld line. Their results showed that there were two different
types of fracture in TWBs: fracture of thinner sheet and weld failure.
Their results indicated that failure mode for aluminum TWBs depended
on several factors such as TR of base metals, presence or absence of
surface defects, and the level of reinforcement on the upper and lower
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R. Safdarian et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404

surfaces of a weld. Liu et al. [29] investigated the failure modes of

AA6082 TWBs in hot stamping test. Their results indicated that two
failure modes of parallel weld fracture and circumferential fracture were
observable in the welded blanks after hot stamping depending on
thickness ratio of TWBs and forming speed.
Despite the extensive research conducted on the formability of
TWBs, there remains a lack of comprehensive knowledge regarding the
failure modes of TWBs during the forming process. Although certain
references [27–29] have investigated the failure modes in TBWs, there is
currently no theoretical model that takes into account the impact of laser
welding parameters on the failure mode. Because the maximum strength
and ductility are attained in TWBs when the failure occurs in the base
metal, this research attempted to identify the failure mode governing
factors. As a result, an attempt was made to offer a simple qualitative
model for predicting failure location based on the mechanical properties
of different zones in the weld region, which may be applied in any
Fig. 1. Comparison of stress-strain curve of St12 sheet with 1 mm and 1.5 mm
thickness ratio. Since the effect of thickness ratio of TWBs was investi­
thicknesses.
gated on their FLD by the authors of present study without a deep focus
on the different failure modes of TWBs [15], in the present study the
effects of main laser welding parameters are investigated on the failure Table 2
modes and formability of TWBs. Although in the previous work [15] Variable parameters and their levels.
various welding parameters were investigated to find appropriate ones
Parameter Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
for TWBs preparation, there was no discussion about the effect of these
parameters on the microstructure, hardness, and failure modes of TWBs. Laser welding speed 4 5 5.84
(mm/s)
Therefore, in the present study the effects of welding parameters are Laser pulse duration (ms) 5.5 6 6.5
deeply studied on the formability and failure modes of TWBs and a novel Laser power (W) 200 220 –
theoretical model is presented for failure mode prediction based on the Thickness ratio of base 1.5 (1.5 mm/1 2 (1 mm/0.5 3 (1.5 mm/0.5
heat input per unit volume of weld. metals mm) mm) mm)

2. Methodology process. Based on the parameters of the present study and their levels
(Table 2), the L-18 Taguchi array was used with four factors. Table 3
2.1. Material properties shows the arrangement of the parameters for these 18 welding tests. As
this table shows different thickness ratios of 1.5, 2, and 3 were consid­
In the present study, carbon steel sheets of St12 with different ered for base metals of TWBs. Since the thickness of two halves of TWBs
thickness of 0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm was used to produce TWBs. was different, a blank with a thickness equal to the difference of base
Table 1 shows the chemical composition and mechanical properties of metal thicknesses was used as a shim under the blank with lesser
the St12 sheet. The uniaxial tensile test based on the ASTM-E8 standard thickness to have a uniform surface for laser welding.
[30] was used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the St12 sheet.
The stress-strain curves of St12 sheet with 1 mm and 1.5 mm thicknesses
have been compared in Fig. 1. Table 3
L18 Taguchi array.
2.2. Experimental equipment and setup Test Power (P)- Welding speed Thickness ratio Pulse duration
Num. watt (V)-mm/s (TR) (PD)-ms
A pulsed Nd: YAG laser, Model IQL-10, with a maximum mean laser 1 200 4 3 6.5
power of 400W, was used for welding TWBs with different thickness 2 200 5 3 6.5
ratios from the St12 base metal. The effect of the main parameters of Nd: 3 200 5.84 2 6.5
4 200 4 2 6
YAG laser welding was investigated on the mechanical properties, 5 200 5 2 6
formability, and hardness of St12 TWBs. These welding parameters were 6 200 5.84 1.5 6
welding speed, pulse duration, and laser power. The variation ranges of 7 200 4 1.5 5.5
the laser parameters were 4–5.84 mm/s for laser welding speed, 5.5–6.5 8 200 5 1.5 5.5
9 200 5.84 3 5.5
ms for pulse duration, and 200 W and 220 W for laser power. Further­
10 220 4 2 5.5
more, because of using St12 sheets with different thicknesses of 0.5, 1, 11 220 5 3 5.5
and 1.5 mm as base metals in TWBs, the thickness ratio of TWBs with 12 220 5.84 2 5.5
three values of 1.5, 2, and 3 was another variable parameter. Therefore, 13 220 4 3 6
the design of experiment (DOE) based on the Taguchi method [31] was 14 220 5 1.5 6
15 220 5.84 3 6
used to investigate the effect of welding parameters and thickness ratio 16 220 4 1.5 6.5
on the formability of TWBs. This will limit the number of experiments 17 220 5 2 6.5
and consequently reduce the cost of experimental tests. Table 2 shows 18 220 5.84 1.5 6.5
the variable factors and their levels in the Nd: YAG laser welding

Table 1
Chemical composition and mechanical properties of St12.
Chemical composition (wt%) Mechanical properties

Fe C Si Mn Cr W Cu Ni V Mo Hardness Vickers (HV) Yield strength (MPa) Ultimate strength (MPa)

Remain 0.118 0.312 0.246 0.12 0.033 0.172 0.0239 0.0347 0.02 140 188.61 323.5

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Since the TWBs are mainly used in the out-of-plane metal forming
processes, the Erichsen standard cupping test based on the ISO 20482
[32] was used to investigate the formability of TWBs after the laser
welding process. The weld hardness was evaluated as the second crite­
rion to investigate the effect of welding parameters as well as the
thickness ratio of TWBs. For this purpose, 18 samples were prepared and
mounted from a cross-section of welded samples. These samples were
polished and etched with 2 % Nital solution (a combination of 98 cc
ethanol and 2 cc nitric acid) to evaluate the hardness and microstructure
of the weld region, heat-affected zone, and base metals. As Fig. 2 shows,
the weld hardness was measured along a path perpendicular to the
welding direction and at a distance of 200 μm from the surface of the
sample. The CCT diagram of studied steel was calculated by JMatPro
software.
3. Results
3.1. Microstructure
The microstructure of the base metal (BM), heat affected zone (HAZ),
and weld metal (WM) of two samples with thickness ratio of 2 as thickest
sample (sample 5) and with thickness ratio of 1.5 as the thinnest joint
(sample 8) are shown in Fig. 3. As indicated in this figure, WM micro­
structure contains acicular ferrite and bainite and lath martensite in
both samples. The formation of these phases is attributed to the high
cooling rate during austenite decomposition temperature range.
It should be noted that the weld metal hardness is affected by the
cooling rate during the austenite decomposition temperature range (800
◦
C-500 ◦ C). An analytical relationship for heat transfer has been pro­
posed that is generally used for continuous welding processes. Based on
this equation, for thin sheets, the time to cool from 800 ◦ C to 500 ◦ C (Δt8-
5) can be related to the sheet thickness (t) by Ref. [33]:
2
( )
(P/v)
Δt8− 5 = 2
1
−
1
(1)
4t πkρc (500 − T0 )2 (800 − T0 )2
where P is power. ρ and c are density and specific heat, respectively. v is
welding speed and k is thermal conductivity and T0 is the initial tem­
perature of the base metal. Reasonably, the effect of welding speed,
welding power, and thickness on the cooling rate is similar for contin­
uous and pulsed laser welding processes. Therefore, to rough estimate
Δt8-5, it is assumed that the pulsed laser process with an average power
of P is equivalent to the continuous laser process with the same power.
According to the properties of the st12 steel, the following values were
assumed as the equation input data: c = 420 J/kg.K, ρ = 7850 kg/m3, k
= 40 W/m.K [34,35]. Using this assumption, if average thickness of the
joint is used in this equation, Δt8-5 varies between 8.5 s for a thickness
ratio of 2 and 3 s for a thickness ratio of 1.5. It means that depending on
the thickness ration, cooling rate varied between 35 ◦ C/s to 98 ◦ C/s for
average thickness of 0.75 mm and 1.25 mm respectively. The calculated
CCT diagram of st12 steel is given in Fig. 4 that predicted microstructure
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of weld zone cross-section and microhardness
measurement path.
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based on this figure and computed cooling rates is in agreement with the
experimental observation in Fig. 3.
Grain refining in the HAZ is obvious in Fig. 3. The Grain refining
occurred in the inter-critical HAZ (ICHAZ) and upper-critical HAZ
(UCHAZ) as a result of austenite to ferrite transformation during the
cooling stage. The ICHAZ experiences peak temperature between A1 and
A3, and as a result at grain boundaries, ferrite partially transforms to
finer grain austenite compared to primary ferrite grain size. In the
cooling step, austenite transforms again to ferrite at the new grain
boundaries between austenite and ferrite. Therefore, new ferrite grains
are smaller than austenite grain size and subsequently than primary
ferrite grains. A similar phenomenon occurs for UCHAZ, with the
exception that in this region, ferrite entirely transforms to fine-grain
austenite during the heating process. Because ferrite grains form at the
boundaries of austenite grains, new ferrite grains are smaller than pre­
vious austenite grains. In the current investigation, coarse grain HAZ
was not observed due to the quick heating and cooling in laser welding.
Indeed, adequate time for austenite grain growth in UCHAZ was not
provided.
3.2. Hardness analysis of weld cross section of TWBs
The obtained hardness profile of the examined samples showed that
all the samples follow an approximately similar trend. Indeed, the
hardness of the weld metal was higher than other places in the HAZ and
base metal, and inside the HAZ, the hardness decreased uniformly by
moving away from the fusion line on both fusion sides, and base metal
has the lowest hardness. Fig. 5 shows the hardness profile of sample 1 as
an example.
The higher hardness of the fusion zone and HAZ is attributed to the
high cooling rates which weld zone experiences during the austenite
decomposition temperature range which leads austenite phase trans­
formed into the bainite and martensite. It is obvious that in the HAZ,
with moving towards the fusion line, the peak temperature increases. As
the peak temperature increases, more austenite is formed during the
heating stage, and therefore the fraction of bainite formed in the HAZ
during the cooling stage and thus the corresponding hardness increases.
Based on this eq. (1), increasing the welding speed reduces Δt8-5,
therefore it is reasonable that weld metal hardness increases with
welding under higher speed conditions. The effect of the thickness ratio
on the weld hardness also can be addressed using Eq. (1). For this pur­
pose, due to the different thicknesses of base metals, the average
thickness of the two sheets can be used in this regard. The average
thickness in the case where the ratio of the thicknesses is 1.5, 2, and 3 are
equal to 1.25 mm, 0.75 mm, and 1 mm, respectively. This is in agree­
ment with the reported results in Fig. 6 (d).
The mean effect of welding parameters and thickness ratio of TWBs
on the weld hardness of St12 TWBs are presented in Fig. 6. As Fig. 6 (a)
shows, the weld hardness increased when the welding speed increased.
The cooling rate experienced by weld metal increased since heat input
per unite length of the weld was reduced when welding was performed
under higher traveling speed conditions (4 mm/s to 5.84 mm/s) which
leads to the formation of more martensite phase in the weld pool and
weld hardness increase. The effect of welding power on the weld hard­
ness is shown in Fig. 6 (b). As this figure shows the weld hardness de­
creases with the welding power increase. The heat input to the joint
increases by the increase of welding power and more heat input causes
the decrease of cooling rate. As Fig. 6 (c) shows, the weld hardness in­
creases by the pulse duration increase from 5.5 ms to 6.5 ms. Since the
pulse width was fixed during the welding process, a longer duration
between two pulses caused more heat transfer from the weld pool,
leading to a higher cooling rate and increased weld hardness. Fig. 6 (d)
shows the effect of thickness ratio on the weld hardness. The weld
hardness decreases with the thickness ratio increasing from 1.5 to 2 and
increases for thickness ratio of 3. These results are compatible with Eq.
(1). The Δt8-5 has an inverse relationship with sheet thickness based on
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R. Safdarian et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404

Fig. 3. The microstructure of weld metal (WM), HAZ, and base metal (BM) corresponding to the welded sample of 5 and 8.

Fig. 4. CCT diagram of St12 steel.

Fig. 5. Hardness profile of sample 1.

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Fig. 6. The weld hardness variation by changing welding parameters of (a) speed, (b) power, (c) pulse duration, and (d) thickness ratio.
Eq. (1) and weld hardness decreases by increasing Δt8-5 (cooling time).
As mentioned before, the average thickness of TWBs with different
thickness ratios of 1.5, 2, and 3 are equal to 1.25 mm, 0.75 mm, and 1
mm, respectively. Therefore, the weld hardness is maximum for TWB
with a thickness ratio of 1.5 and it is minimum for thickness ratio of 2.
3.3. Failures mode
Fig. 7 shows the schematic illustration of laser beam radiation at the
interface of a tailored welded blank joint.
The applied force to the base metal is applied to the weld bead.
Fig. 7. Schematic of laser beam radiation at the interface of a tailor-
welded blank.
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Therefore:
σ w .tw,m = σb .tb,m (2)
where tw,m is minimum weld bead thickness and tb,m is the thin base
metal thickness, σw and σb are stress at weld metal and base metal. It is
well known that tensile strength in steels has a direct relation to their
hardness [36] and therefore ratio of weld metal yield strength (σy,w) to
thin base metal tensile strength (σ y,b) can be estimated by their hardness
ratio as follows:
σ y,w Hvw
= (3)
σy,b Hvb
where Hvw is weld metal hardness and Hvb is base metal hardness. It was
assumed that weld metal failure occurs when weld metal yields sooner
than other parts. The maximum stress in the weld metal (σm,w) is
endured at thinner weld sections where thickness is minimum (tm,w).
According to the above explanations, the required condition for the weld
metal failure mode (WFM) can be expressed as follows:
σ m,w > σ y,w (4)
combining Eqs. (2)–(4) leads to the following condition for WMF
mode.
Hvb .tb
tw,m < (5)
Hvw
Based on this relationship, if the thickness of the weld is greater than
the base metal because the hardness of the weld metal is greater there
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R. Safdarian et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404

will never be a failure of the weld. But if it is the opposite of this case, the
failure of the weld is possible depending on the strength of the joint. This
is in agreement with the performed study by Shibata et al. [37] on the
fracture mode of aluminum alloy. This study revealed that if the mini­
mum weld bead is less than the thin sheet thickness, failure occurs in the
weld bead and the weld is unacceptable conversely, when no thickness
reduction is present in the weld bead, it is acceptable in tensile test [37].
As shown in the hardness profile in Fig. 6, the hardness of weld metal
and HAZ is higher than base metal hardness (Hvw , HvHAZ > Hvb ).
Therefore, based on Eq. (5), failure can occur from the weld metal only if
the joint thickness at the welding zone is smaller than the base metal
thickness tw < tb . Joint thickness reduction can occur due to excessive
heat input to the thin sheet or due to insufficient heat input to the joint,
the former causing excessive penetration and the latter causing incom­
plete penetration at the joint. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
heat input per unit volume of the thin base metal is a determining factor
for controlling the minimum thickness of the joint and thus determining
the state of failure. Fig. 9. Force-displacement curve of samples with different thickness ratio in
The heat input per unit volume of thin base metal can be calculated Erichsen test.
as follows:
it changes both α and h. The heat input variation can be obtained by
α .μ.P
Hin = (6) calculating the α/h ratio as a function of the dimensionless parameter h/
h v.tb
R, which the result is shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that as the laser
moves toward the thinner piece, the input heat per unit volume
where P and μ are laser power and laser beam absorption coefficient,
increases.
respectively. h is the width of the area in the thin metal that is scanned
By performing Erichsen’s tests on various welded samples, force-
by the laser, v is laser traveling speed, tb is the thin base metal thickness
displacement data were obtained. Fig. 9 shows the effect of thickness
and α is the fraction of the laser beam area that is irradiated to thin sheet
ratio on the force and displacement of punch at the fracture point of
(0<α < 1).
TWB samples. As this figure indicates, the forming load and height in­
Due to the circular cross-section of the laser beam, for cases where
crease with the decrease in the thickness ratio of TWBs, and this factor
the laser beam does not radiate exactly symmetrically with respect to the
plays an active role in the force endurance and forming height of TWBs.
joint interface, the fraction of energy that reaches the thin sheet can be
To study the effect of heat input per unit volume of base metal on the
calculated from Eq. (7).
failure behavior, the failure force for all welding conditions (Ff) was

⎧ [ ( ) √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ ]
⎪
⎪ 1 2 h 2 2
⎨ πR2 R .Arccos 1 − R − (R − h) R − (R − h) ⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄
⎪
⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄ h ≤ R
α= [ ( ( ) √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ )] (7)
⎪ 1
⎪ 2R − h ⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄⥄ h > R
⎪
⎩ 2 πR2 − R2 .Arccos 1 − − (h − R) R2 − (h − R) 2
πR R

related to failure stress (Sf) in thin sheet as a function of the bore

Based on equations (6) and (7), displacement of the laser beam diameter of Erichsen die (d) by:
relative to the joint interface affects the heat input per unit volume since

Fig. 8. The laser beam adjustment at the joint interface. a) Schematic illustration, b) the effect of laser beam adjustment on the heat input to the thin sheet based on
Eq. (6).

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R. Safdarian et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404

weld endures the highest stresses before failure while for other condi­
tions the strength of the weld in the Erichsen test reduced significantly.
In this figure, the failure mode is also shown for each of the welding
conditions. It is interesting to note that the strength of the welds with
BFM was higher than other samples that failed from weld metal (WMF).
As depicted in Fig. 10, for heat inputs below 11J/mm3, the failure
happened from weld metal due to incomplete penetration of the melt
pool. For heat inputs above 37 J/mm3 weld metal failure occurred due to
excessive heat input to the thin sheet and throating of the weld pool on
the side of this sheet. It is seen that the experimental results confirm the
proposed theory of the effect of heat input per unit volume of the thin
sheet as a key factor controlling the joint strength and failure mode.
The effect of welding parameters and thickness ratio on the forming
height of TWBs are presented in Fig. 11. As Fig. 11 (a) shows, the
forming height of TWBs increases by the welding speed increase. As
mentioned before, the weld hardness increases by the increase of
welding speed which leads to an increase in weld metal tensile strength.
Fig. 10. The effect of heat input per unit volume of thin sheet on the failure
Since the weakness of the welded joint is the main reason for the fracture
stress and failure mode.
of samples in low forming height and from weld metal, the strength
increase of weld metal increases the endurance of TWBs which leads to
Sf =
Ff
(8) more forming height in the Erichsen cupping test. The effect of welding
tb .d power on the forming height is shown in Fig. 11 (b). As this figure shows
Moreover, to calculate the heat input based on Eq. (6), the alpha was the forming height or formability improves by the welding power in­
set equal to 0.5 and the absorption coefficient was considered by 0.14. crease. While weld hardness decreases by the increase of laser power
The effect of heat input on failure stress and failure mode is presented in because of a decrease in cooling rate, the formability of TWBs improves
Fig. 10. because of grain refining in the joint area. As Fig. 3 shows welding
It is seen that for heat inputs between about 11 and 37 J/mm3, the process causes grain refining in the weld region and HAZ which leads to

Fig. 11. The forming height variation by changing welding parameters of (a) speed, (b) power, (c) pulse duration, and (d) thickness ratio.

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R. Safdarian et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404

Fig. 12. Schematic, microstructure, and real samples with different weld states of (a) incomplete fusion (sample 7), (b) complete fusion (sample 14), and (c) necking
in the thinner sheet (sample 12).

dislocations release and formability improvement. As Fig. 11 (c) shows,
the forming height increases by the pulse duration increase from 5.5 ms
to 6.5 ms. An increase in pulse duration provides more time for heat
transfer between the weld zone and base metal and environment which
leads to a higher cooling rate. The higher weld metal tensile strength will
be achieved by the increase of cooling rate which leads to higher
forming height of TWB samples. As Fig. 11 (d) shows, the forming height
decreases by increasing the base metals’ thickness ratio. Indeed, the
thickness ratio of TWB in the weld line acts like a stress concentration
factor, leading to sooner fracture of TWBs. The higher thickness ratio of
TWBs causes a higher stress concentration in the weld line.
3.3.1. Failure mechanism
According to the input heat to the connection, three different states

Fig. 13. TWBs failure mode from weld line with different forming height (FH) and weld hardness (WH) of samples (a) 4 (FH: 3.3 mm, WH: 207 HV), (b) 5 (FH: 3.7
mm, WH: 215.5 HV), (c) 7 (FH: 2.6 mm, WH: 215HV), (d) 11 (FH: 5.6 mm, WH: 182.67 HV).

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R. Safdarian et al.
may occur, which are shown in Fig. 12.
1 The first case is when sufficient heat does not reach the joint. In such
a situation, the joint will not melt completely and we will have
incomplete melting. Obviously, in such a situation, due to incom­
plete fusion, during the Erichsen test, the sample will fail from the
welding place, because the un-melted seam acts as a crack and causes
stress concentration during the Erichsen cupping test. Therefore,
weld metal cracking mode occurs in this condition. Fig. 12 (a) shows
the happening of this phenomenon for sample 7 after the Erichsen
test with forming height of 2.6 mm.
2 The second state is when enough heat reaches the joint. In such a
situation, the joint will melt completely. The joint will have the best
strength in such conditions. As Fig. 12 (b) shows, this state happened
for sample 14 of the present study with a forming height of 10.9 mm
from the Erichsen test.
3 The third state is when excessive heat enters the joint. In such a
situation, necking can occur at the thinner sheet side of the joint.
Indeed, joint thickness decreases at the thinner sheet side which will
reduce the joint strength. This state happened for sample 12 of the
present study with a forming height of 7.3 mm from the Erichsen test
(Fig. 12 (c)).
For a better understanding of the abundance of these three failure
modes in the fracture of TWBs, all samples were investigated micro­
structurally and categorized into three groups. Fig. 13 shows the first
Fig. 14. TWBs failure mode from weld line with different forming height (FH) and weld hardness (WH) of samples (a) 1 (FH: 4.9 mm, WH: 222.21HV), (b) 2 (FH: 6.2
mm, WH: 274.27HV), (c) 9 (FH: 7.4 mm, WH: 204.06 HV), (d) 10 (FH: 6 mm, WH: 195.26HV), (e) 12 (FH: 7.3 mm, WH: 202.547 HV), (f) 13 (FH: 7.2 mm, WH:
195.337 HV), (g) 15 (FH: 7 mm, WH: 183.3 HV), (h) 16 (FH: 10.2 mm, WH: 205.06 HV).
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Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404
group of TWBs with insufficient heat input and lack of penetration
which fractured from the weld line. The forming height and hardness of
these samples have been presented in this figure. As this figure shows,
these samples have minimum forming height and formability. As Fig. 13
(b), (c), and (d) show, the lack of penetration (LOP) is the main defect in
the most of samples.
The second failure mode presented in Fig. 12 (c) can be seen in
Fig. 14 for other TWBs in the Erichsen test. The effect of excessive heat
input in the weld pool is observable in this figure which leads to underfill
defect and weakness of the weld zone. Although the presented samples
in Fig. 14 suffer from underfill defect, they have more forming height
and formability compare to samples presented in Fig. 13 which have
lack of penetration. The forming height and hardness of these samples
are presented in Fig. 14. The undercut defect in the TWBs with a higher
thickness ratio of base metal has a much more role in the failure of
samples than in samples with a lower thickness ratio. Although the
underfill defect is visible in the microstructure of the sample. 16 (Fig. 14.
(h)), this sample fractured at a higher forming height compared to other
samples of this figure with the same defect but with a lower thickness
ratio.
The samples with higher endurance and formability in the Erichsen
test are presented in Fig. 15. The fracture happened in thinner base
metal or perpendicular to the weld line with high forming height. As this
figure shows, weld soundness is appropriate for these samples which
leads to higher forming height in the cupping test.
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R. Safdarian et al.
Fig. 15. TWBs failure mode from thinner base metal with different forming height (FH) and weld hardness (WH) of samples (a) 3 (FH: 9.4 mm, WH: 243.78 HV), (b)
6 (FH: 9.8 mm, WH: 244.79 HV), (c) 8 (FH: 11 mm, WH: 225.45 HV), (d) 14 (FH: 10.9 mm, WH: 213.09 HV), (e) 18 (FH: 9.7 mm, WH: 213.36 HV), (f) 17 (FH: 7.4
mm, WH: 226.56 HV).
4. Conclusion
In the present study, the effect of main laser welding parameters such
as laser peak power, pulse duration, welding speed as well as thickness
ratio of base metal were investigated on the failure mode, microstruc­
ture, and formability of steel TWBs. The results of this work can be
summarized as follows:
1. The heat input per unit volume of weld in thin sheet (Hin) plays an
active role on the failure mode of TWBs in the Erichsen cupping test.
The appropriate heat input to the joint leads to base metal failure
mode (BFM) while excessive or insufficient heat input leads to weld
metal failure mode (WFM). The experiments approved that BFM and
the highest formability and joint strength were obtained when 11 J/
mm3<Hin<37 J/mm3. It was observed that the experimental results
confirm the proposed theory of the effect of heat input per unit
volume of thin sheet as a key factor controlling the joint strength and
failure mode.
2. Weld microstructure showed that while base metal had a coarse
grain, grain refining happened in the HAZ. The Grain refining
occurred in the inter-critical HAZ (ICHAZ) and upper-critical HAZ
(UCHAZ) as a result of austenite to ferrite transformation during the
cooling stage.
3. The high cooling rate in the fusion zone and HAZ causes higher
hardness in these regions during the austenite decomposition tem­
perature range that it leads austenite phase transformed to the
bainite and martensite.
4. The results indicated that force-displacement of TWBs in the Erich­
sen test increases by increasing of thickness ratio of base metals.
5. The results indicated that the forming height of TWBs increased by
the welding speed increase. The weld hardness increases by the
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Journal of Materials Research and Technology 28 (2024) 1393–1404
increase of welding speed which leads to an increase of weld metal
tensile strength.
6. The forming height increased by the pulse duration increase from
5.5 ms to 6.5 ms. An increase in pulse duration provided more time
for heat transfer between the weld zone and base metal and envi­
ronment which caused more cooling rate and led to higher forming
height of TWB samples.
7. Since the thickness ratio of TWB acts like a stress concentration
factor in the weld line, an increase of this factor has a negative
impact on the formability of TWBs in the Erichsen test. The higher
the thickness ratio of TWBs is, the lesser the forming height is.
8. The results indicated that insufficient heat input to the weld pool led
to lack of penetration and caused the fracture of the sample from the
weld line while excessive heat input in the weld pool led to underfill
defect and weakness of the weld zone. The formability of TWBs
decreased by these defects and caused lesser forming height.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
No funding was received.
The experimental works of present study was designed and per­
formed by Rasoul Safdarian, Mohsen Sheikhi, and Mohammad Javad
Torkamany. Evaluation of obtained results as well as writing of article
was done by authors.
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