Development and Initial Results of an Industrial Prototype Vaporizing Foil Actuated Welding Device
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Date
2016-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Vaporizing Foil Actuated Welding (VFAW) is a novel collision welding technique for metal joining of moderate to small length scales developed at the Ohio State University. A flyer is accelerated towards a target by a high-pressure pulse generated by electrically driven vaporization of an aluminum foil and then produces a collision welding. Compared with conventional fusion-based welding, it allows joining of dissimilar metals with large separate melting points and produces little to no heat-affected zones with a much higher energy-efficiency. Currently, one big constraint on industrial adoption of VFAW is the complexity and inefficiency of required manual setup before each weld. The goal of the project is to further develop the VFAW technique and improve its Technology Readiness Level by constructing an effective, automated, industrial-level prototype system and to explore the effects of different input parameters on VFAW efficiency. The construction process included design and fabrication of components, system integration, and program setup. A VFAW system with charging capability of 3.0 kJ and a discharge frequency of 35.7 kHz was constructed and achieved continuous spot welds at a rate of one minute per weld, which is 20 times faster than before. The new device was able to weld similar aluminum alloys and steels at energy levels below 2 kJ. Spot welding of Al 5052 to JSC590R was researched using the system. The energy deposition on the 0.0762 mm-thick aluminum foil at input energy of 2.6 kJ is obtained as 2347 J. Parameters of VFAW including input energy, foil geometry, and preformation geometry were explored. The collision velocity of one parameter combination was determined as 753 m/s. It is proved that no heat-affected zone was created in the welds according to the micro-hardness test.
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Keywords
VFA, Development and initial results, Industrial Prototype, Spot welding of aluminum to steel