Untersuchungen zum Schweißen in kaltumgeformten Bereichen

Investigations on welding in cold-formed areas.

Cold forming and welding are typical production processes for steel and plant construction. Cold forming is a process where a planar metal plate is transformed into a profiled cross-sectional shape. These cold formed elements are often connected by welding in the cold formed zone. In the cold formed zone, the metal is stretched and compressed into the plastic range. The strains due to cold forming lead to residual stresses and brittle failure becomes more likely. Welding in the plastic formed zones means a heat treatment, which may induce an embrittlement of the material. In current design codes, welding in cold formed zones is restricted to certain minimum distances or limiting ratios of bending radius to plate thickness r/t. The paper presents results of a research project, which includes experimental and numerical investigations. It is the aim of this research project to verify and to improve existing criteria and conditions regarding welding in cold formed zones.