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Design of body structures for commercial vehicles differs significantly from automotive due to government, design and usage requirements. Specifically, heavy truck doors are not required to meet side impact requirements due to their height off the ground as compared to automobiles. However, heavy truck doors are subjected to higher loads, longer life, and cannot experience permanent deformation from overload events. Aluminum has been used intensively in commercial vehicle doors and cab structures for over 50 years by several different manufacturers in North America. It has been only in the last few years that aluminum has appeared in automotive door structures other than in high-end luxury vehicles. Commercial vehicle customers are expecting the same features found in premium automobiles resulting in opportunities to learn from each other's designs. In order to optimize the strength and weight of a commercial vehicle door, a new aluminum intensive structure was developed.

Since 1995, Queen's University has been competing in the annual Formula SAE® competition. The first three formula cars were of conventional construction consisting of a tubular welded steel frame and welded steel suspension components. In the summer of 1997 the team began design and construction of their first monocoque chassis. A technique referred to as cut and fold was to be used for the construction. The material selected for the monocoque was a balsa-wood core with aluminum skins, commonly used in the aircraft industry. An innovative method to produce suspension arms with the use of an adhesive was also developed. The main objective in the design of the aluminum composite monocoque was to reduce the weight, increase stiffness, and simplify the design of the racecar. During the initial design stages it became evident that the composite monocoque would have many advantages over the steel frame, such as fewer components and the absence of welding.

The use of tailored blanks by the automotive industry is a fact. New applications that use tailored blanks and improvements on existing uses are continuously being created. In order to get the most out of all the advantages of tailored blanks in the quickest and most cost effective manner an understanding of the weld and its behaviour under forming conditions is required. The purpose of this paper is to review existing formability tests for tailored blanks and to summarize current research at Queen's University toward the development of the methods that focus on the characteristics of the weld line.