PLASTICITY PROPERTIES OF ADVANCED HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL WELD CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSPORT MEANS – SIMULATION BY THE MESH-FREE METHOD

Advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) is being used increasingly often in the structure of means of transport. Welds made of these steels can crack in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and have inferior mechanical properties compared to the base material. The goal of this paper was to solve the technological and material problem of obtaining high-strength thin-walled welded structures of AHSS steel designed for heavily loaded elements of transport means. The novelty of the article is its presentation of a modified welding process which enables a high-strength structure of the obtained joint to be obtained without welding defects and incompatibilities. Copper backing was selected as an effective method of heat dissipation in the process, and, using the basic solutions method, the leverage of a heat flow process in the weld method deposit (WMD) was checked after cooling down the substrate. The fundamental solutions method was used to determine the optimal shape of the backing. It has been shown that the new backing affects the structure and mechanical properties of welds. In order to verify the newly developed method, tensile tests of the obtained joint were carried out, the hardness was assessed, the metallographic structure was analyzed, and non-destructive tests were performed. The developed material and technological solution were used, for example, for the construction of the arm element of the mobile platform.