Parameter identification for magnetic pulse welding applications

Magnetic pulse welding (MPW) is a promising technology to join dissimilar metals and to produce multi-material structures, e.g. to fulfill lightweight requirements. During this impact welding process, proper collision conditions between both joining partners are essential for a sound weld formation. Controlling these conditions is difficult due to a huge number of influencing and interacting factors. Many of them are related to the pulse welding setup and the material properties of the moving part, the so-called flyer. In this paper, a new measurement system is applied that takes advantage of the high velocity impact flash. The flash is a side effect of the MPW process and its intensity depends on the impact velocity of the flyer. Thus, the intensity level can be used as a welding criterion. A procedure is described that enables the user to realize a fast parameter development with only a few experiments. The minimum energy level and the optimum distance between the parts to be joined can be identified. This is of importance since a low energy input decreases the thermal and mechanical shock loading on the tool coil and thus increases its lifetime. In a second step, the axial position of the flyer in the tool coil is adjusted to ensure a proper collision angle and a circumferential weld seam.