Affiliations: [a] Accelerator and Pulse Power Division, Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre, Mumbai-400 085, India | [b] ADS Target Development Section, Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre, Mumbai-400 085, India | [c] Mechanical Metallurgy Section, Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre, Mumbai-400 085, India
Abstract: Electromagnetic welding (EMW) is a specific application of
Electromagnetic Forming (EMF), owing to the fact that the latter very often
than not precedes the former, which means that the metallic parts to be welded
get deformed before getting welded. This is a new application of
electromagnetic field. This being so, there are not much efforts made for the
electrical characterization of the equipment to improve it's performance. The
electrical parameter of the system are analyzed in detail in this paper for
welding of aluminum strips of 1 mm and 2 mm thickness (width
=400 mm and length=550 mm). The two
bodies (to be welded) have necessarily to be separated from each other so that
they acquire sufficient velocity before collision. The collision velocity is
the important parameter in this process. The variation in collision velocity is
computed for a range of separation distances. The optimum separation distance
and minimum energy required for welding is computed and experimentally
verified. The paper summarizes the analysis comprising of computational work,
substantiated by data for mechanical strength tests and the study of
microstructure. The correlation between the quality of weld and collision
velocity has been established.
Keywords: Electromagnetic welding, impact collision velocity, capacitor bank, Lorentz force, high strain rate, ringing frequency, current skin depth and microstructure
