12. Tailored rolled blanks

We use the Anglo-Saxon name for these new products, as they are not manufactured in France and therefore don't yet have an accepted name; the expression can nevertheless be translated as "multi-thickness laminated blanks". At present, these are strips of steel relaminated on a Sendzimir train, the thickness of which can vary very rapidly; for example, there can be seven different thicknesses over a little more than a meter in length, enabling the manufacture of a center pillar whose thickness is adjusted according to the local stresses to which it will be subjected during vehicle use and, above all, in the event of an impact. It should be noted that there is nothing to prevent the manufacture of such blanks from metals other than steel.

Compared with welded blanks, which they compete with, they offer a number of advantages:

• ...