Analytical and Numerical Investigation of Significant Parameters on Strength of Electromagnetically Assembled Aluminum Tube Joints

Electromagnetic forming is a high energy rate forming process in which an electromagnetic Lorentz body force is used for deformation of products.  In this article, electromagnetic forming process was simulated for the assembly of parts as an innovative method.  The effect of important process parameters such as discharge energy, radius and width of rectangular groove on the strength of the assembled products were studied by using finite element technique and design of experiment. After introducing the governing equations, the output of these equations were applied in simulation as a pressure on work-piece.  In this simulation, an ax symmetric model was used in analysis and Johnson-Cook theory was applied due to high strain rate to show the plastic behavior of the materials. Finally, the numerical results were compared with the experimental ones reported by other researchers and a good correlation was found between them.  Results revealed that the bead depth increases with the increase of the discharge energy and more filling groove, increasing strength of joint. Also Strength of joint increases due to the creation of partial shearing of the tube at the groove edge and interference stresses at the tube and mandrel interface.

Keywords:

Electromagnetic Forming , Finite Element , Groove , Aluminum tube , strength of joint