Electromagnetic Forming

In response to your request the following paper is about the process of electromagnetic forming (EMF) also known as magnetic pulse forming. EMF was developed around the !"#$s as a mean of shaping % forming and assembling metals. &he work piece is formed by a pulse of electric current which acts as a force% produced by the magnetic field. &his forming is without heat effects and tool marks since the tool and the work piece never come in contact.

&he primary use for EMF is to assemble metal parts to each other or other components. It can put forming and assembly all in one step. It is especially useful to e'pand% compress% or form tubular shapes. It can also be used to form sheet metal if flat forming coils are used. EMF also has been used to perform piercing% shearing% riveting% and welding. &he materials that are the most easily formed by EMF are ones that have a high electrical conductivity such as copper% aluminum% low carbon steel% and brass. Material with low conductivity can be formed if very high energy is used. E'amples of product made by EMF would be air conditioner accumulators% high pressure hoses% shock absorbers dust covers. In the manufacturing of electrical equipment it is used to (oin components of high)voltage fuses.

&he EMF process uses a capacitor bank% switches% a forming coil% a field shaper% power supply of constant current% and an electrically conductive work piece. &he magnetic field is created by the discharge of the bank capacitor into the forming coil. &he work piece is placed very close to the coil so from the magnetic field an eddy current is induced into the work piece. *ince the magnetic field was created electromagnetically the eddy current of the work piece is in the opposite direction of the magnetic field of the coil. &he interaction of the opposite flowing magnetic fields of the forming coil and the work piece causes a mutual repulsion. &he mutual repulsion causes pressure impulse on the work% which causes the metal to be rapidly accelerated and gain high kinetic energy. &he kinetic energy forms the work piece by working the metal beyond its yield strength and causes permanent deformation. &he forming pulses are kept short to reduce the loss of energy to resistance heat. &he pulse length is between # and ## micro seconds. &he field shapers are used to concentrate the magnetic fields to where the forming is desired. Field shapers a current)carrying conductors that are coupled to the forming coil. &he forming methods that EMF can be used for are compression% e'pansion% and contour forming.

&here are some great advantages of using EMF. &he process is very repeatable since

the energy output is very ad(ustable% the only forming variable is the material. &he process also requires no lubricant since the tool and the work piece never touch. &he e'ception is when the work piece is driven against a mandrel% although the work piece still never touches the tool lubricant might be needed to get it out. &here is also no spring back in the material when EMF is used. &his is because the work piece is loaded into the plastic region. &here are no mechanical stresses in the work piece other than work hardening. +oints made by EMF are stronger than the parent material. &he speed of the process is only affected by how long it takes to load and unload parts or by the cooling time required for electrical components and coils between cycles. EMF also increases the formability for aluminum since there is a lack of mechanical stresses. &ooling for EMF is also ine'pensive.

Even though there are many advantages to EMF there are also a few limitations. *peed was mentioned as an advantage but it also can be viewed as a limitation. &he process is so fast that it does not lend itself to deep drawing of material since the material does not have time to stretch. ,nother limitation is that only material with low electrical resistivity can be easily used such as copper% aluminum% and low carbon steel. If material with higher resistivity is used the equipment and cost will be much larger. &he process is also limited to thin wall tubes since the ma'imum pressure a standard compression coil can produce is -.# M/a.

*afety is also an issue that should be addressed briefly. , shield should be placed be the work area to protect personnel from the possibility that a work piece or coil might be e(ected from the equipment. &his could happen if the work piece or coil is not properly placed in the correct position. /recautions should also be made for possible sound ha0ards produced by the work piece rapidly compressing air. *ince there are possible high voltages precautions should be taken to protect personnel from them

1verall electromagnetic forming seems to be an interesting process. I can see it being an effective and relatively ine'pensive way of (oining and forming tubes. It is interesting to me to think that as a child I played with magnets that would push away from each other% and now industry is using that idea to form parts.