Experimental investigation of the weldability of tubular dissimilar materials using the electromagnetic welding process

Abstract

This paper describes the magnetic pulse welding process (MPW) for tubes. Material combinations of aluminium to steel and copper to aluminium were experimentally evaluated. The first major goal of this work is to experimentally obtain the optimal input parameters like the discharge energy, the stand-off distance and the tool overlap for MPW of the material combinations. Welding windows with all possible input parameters are created for both material combinations. Furthermore, a comparison is done between three coil systems; a single turn coil with field shaper, a single turn coil with a field shaper and transformer and a multi-turn coil and field shaper. Metallographic investigation of the samples, hardness tests and leak tests were executed to determine the most suitable machine set-up and the optimal input parameters for each set-up. A second major goal is to determine the influence of the target tube wall thickness on the deformation of tube-tube welds when no internal support is used.