Electromagnetic forming—A review

Electromagnetic forming is an impulse or high-speed forming technology using pulsed magnetic field to apply Lorentz’ forces to workpieces preferably made of a highly electrically conductive material without mechanical contact and without a working medium. Thus hollow profiles can be compressed or expanded and flat or three-dimensionally preformed sheet metal can be shaped and joined as well as cutting operations can be performed. Due to extremely high velocities and strain rates in comparison to conventional quasistatic processes, forming limits can be extended for several materials. In this article, the state of the art of electromagnetic forming is reviewed considering: • basic research work regarding the process principle, significant parameters on the acting loads, the resulting workpiece deformation, and their interactions, and the energy transfer during the process; • application-oriented research work and applications in the field of forming, joining, cutting, and process combinations including electromagnetic forming incorporated into conventional forming technologies. Moreover, research on the material behavior at the process specific high strain rates and on the equipment applied for electromagnetic forming is regarded. On the basis of this survey it is described why electromagnetic forming has not been widely initiated in industrial manufacturing processes up to now. Fields and topics where further research is required are identified and prospects for future industrial implementation of the process are given.