Characteristics of 5052 aluminum alloy sheets joint using electromagnetic force

Recently, trends in lightweight materials and their fabrication process have been focused on reducing global warming and environmental pollution. Therefore, the demand for aluminum is increasing as representative lightweight material. In general, a fusion welding process, such as high-speed GTA (Gas tungsten arc) welding, is used to join aluminum sheet, or for mechanical joining which accomplished using a rivet process. However, it is difficult to ensure a high-quality joint, given that various defects are often reported. Therefore, in this study, we propose not only welding aluminum sheets using a MPW (Magnetic pulse welding) process, but also analyzing characteristics of these joints through experimental and numerical analyses. In order to achieve this objective, a proper coil type was selected after preliminary testing in which a MPW process was performed using 0.5 mm thick A5052 sheets. After the welding, the characteristics on joint were analyzed using a peel test and optical microscope. Although there was an overlapping zone, and the coil shape was quadrangular, a circular joint shape was achieved with no evidence of welding in the center of the joint. These tests confirmed that nonuniform distributions of electromagnetic forces cause the only overlapping zone, located on the adjacent edge of the coil.