Electromagnetic welding of Al-Cu: An investigation on the thickness of sheets

The selection of the desired thickness of sheets is of significant importance in electromagnetic welding (EMW) in order to improve the mechanical properties of joints. For this purpose, the influence of the thickness of Al, Cu, and driver sheets on the ultimate tensile strength, elongation, weld width, and hardness of the Al-Cu joint was investigated. The finite element analysis combined with the weldability window was applied to predict the joint formation. The experiments were conducted using the response surface methodology (RSM) to estimate the optimal values of sheet thickness. Then, the microstructure of the weld interface was observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy to evaluate the quality of welds. It was observed that the values of ultimate tensile strength, elongation, weld width, and hardness could be simultaneously improved by selecting the desirable values of the sheet thickness. Morphological analysis of Al-Cu weld exhibited that different impact velocities changed the shape and structure of the interface.