Numerical and Experimental Study on Effect of Different Types of Field-Shaper on Electromagnetic Terminal-Wire Crimping Process

Abstract

Electromagnetic terminal-wire crimping (EMTWC) is a type of mechanical joining process. In EMTWC, the terminal is deformed over the wire strands plastically to enhance the mechanical strength by increasing the contact area. A well-crimped electrical interconnection helps to avoid harmful configurations by reducing sparks, overheating, power losses etc. Subsequently, the challenge to minimize various disadvantages of conventional mechanical terminal-wire crimping process like non-uniform deformation, decreased durability, cracks, etc., can be overcome by the electromagnetic crimping process. In this work, application of the fieldshaper has been proposed to concentrate the magnetic pressure at the desired location for effective wire crimping. Numerical analysis was carried out using LS-DYNATM on three different types of field-shaper namely single-step, double-step and tapered. In all the three field-shaper, the total length, the outer diameter and the effective working length were constant. The samples used was an aluminum terminal and seven strands of aluminum wires which are commercially used for making electrical inter connections. Experiments were carried out based on the results obtained through numerical analysis. Experimental and numerical results were in agreement and the error was less than 10%. The efficiency of single-step field-shaper was found to be better compared to double-step and tapered fieldshaper.