US 12,085,161 B2
Vehicle driveline component with weldment having air pocket configured to shift residual stress in weldment away from the weld joint
Anoop Vasu, Rochester Hills, MI (US); Shizhu Xing, Rochester Hills, MI (US); Jifa Mei, Ann Arbor, MI (US); Chih-Hung Chung, Troy, MI (US); and Ravi S. Desai, Troy, MI (US)
Assigned to AMERICAN AXLE & MANUFACTURING, INC., Detroit, MI (US)
Filed by AMERICAN AXLE & MANUFACTURING, INC., Detroit, MI (US)
Filed on Apr. 1, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/837,346.
Prior Publication US 2021/0308806 A1, Oct. 7, 2021
Int. Cl. B60B 35/00 (2006.01); F16H 57/00 (2012.01); B23K 26/28 (2014.01); B23K 101/00 (2006.01); B23K 103/04 (2006.01); B23K 103/06 (2006.01)
CPC F16H 57/0025 (2013.01) [B23K 26/28 (2013.01); B23K 2101/008 (2018.08); B23K 2103/04 (2018.08); B23K 2103/06 (2018.08)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle driveline component comprising:
a first component formed of cast iron, the first component having a first annular flange that is disposed an axis, the first annular flange having a first lip with a first axial side and a second axial side that is opposite the first axial side;
a second component formed of steel, the second component having a second annular flange that is disposed about the axis concentric with the first annular flange, the second annular flange abutting the first annular flange, the second annular flange having a second lip with a third axial side and a fourth axial side that is opposite the third axial side; and
a weld coupling abutting edges of the first and second lips to one another, the weld extending along a first plane from the first and third sides of the first and second lips, respectively, to the second and fourth sides of the first and second lips, respectively;
wherein the first component and the second component cooperate to define a pocket, the pocket having a first pocket side, which intersects the weld and which includes the first and third axial sides, a first peripheral surface and a first corner, the first peripheral surface and the first corner being defined by the first component, the first corner connecting the first axial side and the first peripheral surface; and
wherein the first corner of the pocket is located outside of a heat affected zone in the first component.