Mitigation of the effects of aluminum from AISi coated boron steels during laser welding of tailor welded blanks by additive manufacturing

A method, comprising:

• providing a first boron steel blank and a second boron steel blank that each include an upper major surface, a lower major surface, and a plurality of side surfaces that connect the lower major surface to the upper major surface, the upper and lower major surfaces each including a coating that includes aluminum and that extends along the upper and lower major surfaces and terminates at an intersection between the upper major surface and the side surfaces and an intersection between the lower major surface and the side surfaces, and the side surfaces being devoid of the coating,
• forming an additive layer on at least one of the side surfaces of each of the first boron steel blank and the second boron steel blank that is devoid of the coating using a powder laser deposition process, the additive layers each being formed of a material that is the same or different from that of the first boron steel blank and the second boron steel blank;
• after forming the additive layer on each of the first boron steel blank and the second boron steel blank, abutting the at least one side surface of the first boron steel blank including the additive layer to the at least one side surface of the second boron steel blank including the additive layer together;
• laser welding the additive layer of the first boron steel blank and the additive layer of the second boron steel blank to weld the first boron steel blank to the second boron steel blank;
• and
• thermal-hardening the welded first boron steel blank and the second boron steel blank;
• wherein a combined thickness of the additive layers is the same as a diameter of a laser beam used during the laser welding such that during the laser welding, the laser beam only irradiates a material of the additive layers without irradiating the coatings located at the intersection between the upper major surface and the at least one side surface including the additive layer and the intersection between the lower major surface and the at least one side surface including the additive layer to form a weld pool that includes the material of the additive layers and does not include the aluminum of the coatings.