Abstract
The use of high-speed forming technologies can contribute to satisfying current social and political demands on production technology such as sustainability and climate protection in manufacturing. These technologies have a very high potential for shaping complex, sharp-edged parts and constitute a key means of reducing a component’s weight. One exemplary high-speed forming technology is electromagnetic forming. It uses the energy density of pulsed magnetic fields to impose forces on electrically conductive materials, which leads to plastic deformation when reaching the yield stress of the material. However, for very thin sheet materials this effect can result in an uncontrolled deformation of the work piece. In order to overcome this effect, electromagnetically driven tools the use of can be appropriate. An additional benefit is that this process is no longer restricted to electrically highly conductive work piece materials. This paper describes a media-based process using electromagnetically driven tools to form micro-flow channels, which are often used in bipolar plates, into thin sheet metals. The principles are explained and first results are shown.
Highlights
Electromagnetic forming (EMF) uses the energy density of pulsed magnetic fields to apply forces to electrically conductive work pieces without mechanical contact and form them at high speed
It could be shown that special attention has to be paid to the efficiency of the pressure application to accelerate the force initiator and the subsequent distribution of the pressure through the fluid
Afterwards, finer meshing can be used to determine the forming result for different work piece geometries using the calculated acceleration of the force initiator
Summary
Electromagnetic forming (EMF) uses the energy density of pulsed magnetic fields to apply forces to electrically conductive work pieces without mechanical contact and form them at high speed. According to [6], this eddy current is concentrated only on the surface of the work piece due to the so-called skin effect. For materials with low electrical conductivity, such as stainless steel or titanium, these effects have a higher impact To overcome these drawbacks it might be useful to include an additional transmission element with high electrical conductivity, a so called driver, to support the electromagnetic forming process. These drivers have a thickness of 0.5 to 1.5 mm and can only be used once, because they undergo the same deformation like the work piece. This stiff, reusable transmission element will be called force initiator
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