Impact welding method invented at Ohio State featured in MRS Bulletin

Professor Glenn Daehn, Mars G. Fontana Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Ohio State, leads an innovative team that has been recognized as the world leader in applying shock and impact science to manufacturing technology. A professor whose career at Ohio State spans more than 30 years, Dr. Daehn is the director of the Impulse Manufacturing Laboratory at Ohio State, where a revolutionary method of impact welding was invented as an alternative to traditional joining processes. 

Trends in vehicle manufacturing have been tracking towards the efficient, light-weight, and cost-effective trifecta for years. Limitations in traditional joining methods sustain the gap between manufacturing demands and a functional joints between dissimilar materials. Mechanical fasteners and adhesives are non-welding approaches for joining dissimilar materials, but they do not form a true metallurgical weld. Solid state impact welding is an option for when a weld is required, but it is generally practiced at large size scales in the form of explosive welding. The development of vaporizing foil actuator welding (VFAW) addresses the limitations presented by explosive welding and magnetic pulse welding, a well known impact welding method used less frequently. Benefits of VFAW include much lower energy, greater material manipulation, stronger welds, and, its trademark benefit, joining of dissimilar materials.  

Professor Daehn and his team were recenty featured in the August 2019 MRS Bulletin in an article entitled, "Joining of dissimilar lightweight materials". Members referenced and included in the article are Buckeyes, Brian P. Thurston, graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering Department; Bhuvi Swarna Lalitha Nirudhoddi, a doctoral candidate in the Impulse Manufacturing Laboratory; and Anupam Vivek, a research scientist in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. MRS Bulletin profiled VFAW as it relates to the joining of aluminum to steel for use in an automotive application, which is significant for lightweighting  ̶  the major benefit of VFAW. The example joined 5000 and 6000 

series aluminum alloys with "ultrahigh strength steels", a process enabled by an electrical current produced in a capacitor bank and interacting with thin strips of conductive foil. Simply stated, "Under the action of a high current, the foil itself vaporizes, producing high pressure, which pushes the flyer toward the target at a high speed. The fast and oblique impact produces the weld."¹ 

The Ohio State-bred technology for advanced materials is gaining popularity and consideration among other academic institutions and early adopters in the manufacturing field. Many industrial partners are strongly engaged in the development of this technolgogy. In a recent publication (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-019-04320-x), the technology was shown to weld additive manufactured material. Under grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and Ohio Development Services Agency, the Ohio State team in collaboration with automotive industry partners is developing prototype components that will undergo qualification required for commercial application. 

You can expect to see more about VFAW and the materials scientists behind the invention in the media as the technology continues to be developed and deployed.

Article (PDF, 18MB)

Magazine view (pages 637-641)

VFAW video

¹Vaporizing foil actuator welding. (2019). Retrieved from MRS Bulletin August 2019 Vol. 44 No. 8.