High Velocity Electromagnetic Impact Joining of Dissimilar Materials Couples: Design, Implementation and Performance for Mechanical and Gas-Tight Joints

Available joining technologies produce strong limits on the ways advanced materials can be implemented.  This presentation will describe conformal interference joining, a very versatile method that can join almost any material pair in which one of the base materials is capable of significant plastic deformation.  Two components are designed to nest one inside the other and part of the couple is moved at high controlled velocity and strike the target.  The result is a mechanical joint that can feature both a natural interference fit as well as structural conformation.  This can provide high strength in a wide variety of materials and geometric configurations.  This presentation will first describe the equipment and processes needed to create repeatable, high velocity conformal interference joint and discuss the properties and strength that can be expected.  New results will be shown that demonstrate the feasibility of a hermetically sealed joint using electromagnetic forming.  This will be done with both similar and dissimilar materials joined with and without an interface material to seal and helium leak test results will be presented.