Magnetics Business & Technology - May/June 2024 - 18

FEATURE ARTICLE
Magnetic Pulse Systems from Bmax Bring Innovative Capabilities to Metal
Forming
Magnetic pulse welding uses electromagnetically generated
forces to create a solid-state cold weld at room temperature.
The weld is completed in microseconds and is stronger than
the base metals joined. No heat, filler materials or gases are
required.
Bmax, a provider of magnetic pulse systems and services for
metal processing, showcased its technology at this year's Consumer
Electronics Show, CES 2024, demonstrating to product
developers how it can help them realize products they might
never have thought were possible. The systems are based on
the high concentration of electrical energy used to manipulate
metal at extremely high deformation speeds.
Its systems are currently being used for mass production of
parts in automotive, aerospace, packaging and other industries.
Welding aluminum to steel in drive shafts and forming deep and
sharp details in packaging are just two commercial examples of
how the technology has helped product managers and designers
realize their product innovations.
Headquartered in Toulouse, France and with USA headquarters
in Orion, Michigan, produces equipment and accessories such
as specialty coils for industrial-grade magnetic pulse processing.
The technology is developed and backed up by a team of
over 70 engineers with decades of combined practical expertise
and research.
The conductive workpiece is placed inside or next to a Bmax
coil which accelerates it over 1mm to impact the second workpiece
at extremely high speed. The acceleration is a result of
repelling magnetic fields between the workpiece and the coil,
produced by the eddy current in the workpiece. Solid-state cold
weld is created when two metals are forced together in such intensity
their atoms start sharing electrons, practically fusing the
two metals together. Since there is no heat or melting involved,
dissimilar metals can be welded using this technique. It triggers
the phenomenon by accelerating the metal into visco-plastic
phase and impacts the other workpiece at an exact speed and
angle.
Basically, magnetic pulse forming gives product designers the
power to create complex and detailed shapes more efficiently
and with less steps and equipment. A special coil is placed
near the metallic workpiece, replacing the pusher in traditional
forming. When the system releases its intense magnetic pulse,
the coil generates a magnetic field which in turn accelerates the
workpiece to hyper speed and onto the die. The magnetic pulse
and the extreme deformation speed transforms the metal into a
visco-plastic state which increases formability without affecting
the native strength of the material.
Magnetic pulse crimping is a contact-less process using
Lorentz forces to crimp a wide variety of materials of different
shapes and sizes. An alternative to mechanical processes, it
uses the same principles as magnetic pulse forming and welding,
able to shrink elements enabling new designs with extreme
mechanical properties.
18 Magnetics Business & Technology * May/June 2024
www.MagneticsMag.com
http://www.MagneticsMag.com
Magnetics Business & Technology - May/June 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Magnetics Business & Technology - May/June 2024
