Magnetic pulse welding of metallic tubes - experimental investigation and numerical modelling

Magnetic pulse welding (MPW) provides an efficient route to join overlapping metallic tubes by the application of a high magnitude electromagnetic (EM) force. The process is rapidly transient in nature with little scope to comprehend and monitor the evolution of the joint by experimental means. A comprehensive computational process model is presented here to analyse the transient nature of EM field and force, and resulting impact and plastic deformation during MPW of metallic tubes. The computed results are validated with the corresponding experimentally measured weld joint length for specific tube joint geometries. The computed values of the plastic deformation, impact angle and impact velocity along the joint interface are examined further to realise the progressive nature of the joint formation.