State of the art of electromagnetic energy for welding and powder compaction

The innovation of advanced materials and their application to engineering structures can be related to their ease of fabricating defect-free parts. The identification of various energy sources has resulted in various new processing techniques in manufacturing and electromagnetic energy is one which offers promising qualities for high-velocity forming, welding, and compaction of metals. Bimetallic joint designs were proposed in automobiles to reduce the weight and to take advantage of properties of different metals in the same construction. Joining by fusion is impossible in certain cases due to huge differences in melting point, thermal conductivity, volumetric specific heat, and coefficient of thermal expansion. In the present study, magnetic-pulse welding of a Cu/Al joint and an ODS alloy is investigated. The formation of intermetallic phases and interface morphology is presented along with a quantitative analysis for temperature in the Al/Cu joint. Also, initial investigations on the application of electromagnetic energy for compaction of aluminum powders are reported.