Transient Magnetic – Transient Thermal Finite Element Multiphysic Model

of Forming Coil and Workpiece Heating in Magneto-forming Processes

V. Fireteanu(1), P. Taras(1), M. Popa(2) and S. Pasca(2)

(1)
POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest, EPM_NM Lab, 313 Splaiul Independentei, Bucharest, Romania
(2)
University of Oradea, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Oradea, Romania

Abstract
The paper deals with the study of transient heating of the forming coil and workpiece, during electromagnetic forming
process. Based on the assumption of no thermal conduction during the very short time of the process, the first simplified
model is a link between a 2D finite element solution of time depending Joule losses density and the integration of
simplified equation of thermal transient conduction in the forming coil, respectively in the workpiece.
The second model, which considers the thermal conduction phenomenon, represents a step-by-step evaluation in time of
the transient electromagnetic and temperature fields in 3D domain. This model is able to take into account the
temperature dependence of all electromagnetic and thermal properties.

Introduction
The use of aluminum and its lightweight alloys has extended in many sectors, from automotive industry to consumer
goods. Taking into account the particularities in processing such materials, high-rate forming technologies such as
magneto-forming (MF) offers a very efficient solution.
Several numerical models are developed [1], [2], [3] for analysis of coupled transient electromagnetic and structural
phenomena, but the evaluation of transient heating of the workpiece and forming coil during the MF process was not
yet investigated. The study of temperature increase during a MF process is important for the decision to take into
account or not temperature depending properties for the copper of the forming coil, respectively for the workpiece
material in the analysis of electromagnetic and structural phenomena.
The study of the transient electromagnetic – transient heating coupling in this paper considers two geometries of the flat
forming coil, one turn-coil, 25 x 5 mm cross-section, Fig. 1 a), respectively four turns-coil, 4 x 5 mm cross-section,
3 mm space between the turns, Fig. 1 b), placed at 3 mm from a 1 mm thick aluminum disk to be processed. The energy
of 10 kJ is stored in a capacitor bank of 200 F, initially charged at 10 kV in case of one turn forming coil, respectively
50 F and 20 kV in case of four turns coil.

a) b)
Fig. 1. Half of one-turn forming coil (a)and four-turns forming coil (b) MF geometry

Differential models of transient electromagnetic and thermal fields in MF processes

The analysis in time domain of the quasi-static electromagnetic field in regions with magnetic permeability  and
electric conductivity , evaluates the unknowns magnetic vector potential A, which defines the magnetic flux density
B = curlA, and electric scalar potential V, that satisfies the equations:

curl[(1/)curlA] = J = – gradV – A/t, divA = 0 (1)

The computation domain contains (a) eddy current regions, represented by the forming coil – source region of solid
conductor type and the workpiece, where both components  gradV and  A/t of the current density J exists, and
(b) nonconductive ( = 0) and no-source regions, represented by the electrical insulation and surrounding air, where
J is null. Thus, the analysis of MF device based on the potentials A and V uses the AV-A model or the vector
formulation of the electromagnetic field.
The MF models are field-circuit models, where the unknown amplitude of the current density J in the regions of source
type is connected with known quantities of the forming coil supply circuit.
The second formulation in the analysis in time domain of the quasi-static harmonic electromagnetic field concerns the
evaluation in eddy current regions (a) of the unknowns represented by the electric vector potential T, which defines the
current density J = curlT, and of the scalar magnetic potential , which satisfies the equations:
curl[(1/)curlT] = – B/t = – [(T – grad)] / t, divT = 0, div[(T – grad)] = 0 (2)
In (c) nonconductive and non-magnetic ( = 0) regions, respectively in the source regions of stranded coil type,
insulations and air, the intensity of the magnetic field is expressed by the formula H = H0 – gradr, where the field H0,
generated in the free space by the current density J1 in the source regions is evaluated with the Biot-Savart formula. The
second component of the magnetic field intensity in regions of (c) type is defined by the unknown reduced scalar
magnetic potential r , which satisfies the equation:
div[0(H0 – gradr)] = 0 (3)
In this context, the forming coil is considered like the insulation and the air a nonconductive region in the evaluation of
the electromagnetic field source, and as a eddy current region in the evaluation of the current density field. Thus, the
analysis of MF device based on the potentials T and  uses the T-r model or the scalar formulation of the
electromagnetic field. Since the T-r model uses scalar potentials in the nonconductive regions while the AV-A model
vector potentials in such regions, the first model is more advantageous in memory requirements and computation time.
The time depending field of forming coil and workpiece temperature  (r,t), characterizing the thermal conduction
phenomenon, satisfies the following equation and the boundary condition:

c d / dt  p  div( grad ) ,  / n  (  f )  Cn (T 4  T 4 ), (4)

f
where the source of the temperature field p = J2/(2) is the volume density of the Joule power,  is the thermal
conductivity and (c) is the specific heat capacity,  is the coefficient of thermal convection, f is the surrounding air
temperature and  is the coefficient of thermal radiation.
The coupling between the equations (1)-(3) of electromagnetic field and the equations (4) of transient heating in the
study of a MF process is performed through the step-by-step in time domain solution of the two fields. The usual initial
conditions are no electromagnetic field and ambient temperature everywhere in the computation domains. The end of
the study correspond to zero value of the current in the forming coil.

Simplified 2D model of heating: Transient electromagnetic – transient heating link

A simplified model of coil and workpiece heating uses the results of transient Joule power density p(r, z, t) issued from
a 2D axisymmetric finite element analysis of the electromagnetic field, based on the vector formulation, and considers
the conduction term div(grad) negligible in the first equation (4). Starting from a known initial temperature field, the
transient heating supposes the evaluation of the integral (r, z., t) = c p(r,z,t) dt. With the resistivity 0.02e-6 Ωm and
heat capacity 3.522e6 J/m3/ C for copper, respectively 0.035e-6 Ωm and 2.373e6 J/m3/ C for aluminum, the 2D finite
element evaluation of the time variation of the total Joule power in the forming coil and workpiece offers the results in
Fig. 2, for one-turn application (left) and for four-turns (right).

Fig. 2. Time variation of the power in the one-turn and four-turns forming coil and in the workpiece
Curves of temperature time variation during the MF process in three particular points of the forming turn (inner –
r = 10 mm, middle – r = 22.5 mm and outer – r = 35 mm), in the corresponding points and in the center point (r = 0) of
the workpiece surface are presented in figure 3. The similar results for the four-turns forming coil application, Fig. 4,
correspond to the points placed on the inner corner toward the air-gap of the four-turns forming coil and to the
corresponding points placed on the workpiece surface.

points on forming turn surface

points on workpiece surface
Fig. 3. Temperature increase during MF process for one-turn forming coil application

points on the four turn surfaces points on workpiece surface

Fig. 4. Temperature increase during MF process for four-turns forming coil application

The temperature field of the four-turns forming coil and of the workpiece at the end of the MF process, Fig. 5, shows a
very localized heating, mainly in the forming coil. A meshing of the coil and workpiece in accordance with this result
was considered by this 2D simplified model of heating.

Fig. 5. Temperature chart of forming coil and workpiece at the end of MF process
Multiphysic 3D model of the coupling electromagnetic transient – transient thermal conduction
In the coupling of 3D transient electromagnetic field finite element computation, based on the scalar formulation, with
the computation of transient heating, the electromagnetic and thermal fields are evaluated at each time step, and the
coupling of the two fields is performed through the space (x, y, z) and time (t) structure of the Joule power density
p(x, y, z, t). In comparison with the previous 2D analysis, this 3D model does not neglect the thermal conduction
phenomenon and the temperature dependent properties of the forming coil and workpiece materials can be considered.
Unfortunately, the meshing in the depth of the solid conductor regions - forming coil and the workpiece, is much coarse
than in case of previously 2D analyses.
The simulation results below for four-turns forming coil correspond to the properties 0.028e-6 Ωm, 235 W/m/ C for
aluminum and 0.017e-6 Ωm, 386 W/m/ C for copper. The comparison of the 3D results in Fig. 6 related to the heating
of forming coil and workpiece during the MF process with the corresponding 2D results in Fig. 4, obtained for
reasonable value of the computation time, shows very important differences for the forming coil. These differences are
the result of the very poor mesh in the depth of the forming coil region in the 3D models.
The temperature charts of the four-turns forming coil and workpiece at the end of the MF process, issued from
the 3D multiphysic model of heating, are presented in Fig. 7.

Fig. 6. Temperature increase during MF process in four points of the forming coil and workpiece surface

Fig. 7. Forming coil and workpiece temperature at the end of MF process (t = 60 microsec)

Conclusions
The excessive high values of local temperature at the end of MF process presented in the paper are the result of the
abnormal high value of the energy considered in the numerical applications. Though, the level of heating in real cases,
mainly of the forming coil, is very important. Consequently, the temperature dependence of physical properties must be
considered in the study of all phenomena during magneto-forming processes. On the other hand, the results show how
important is a correct mesh to minimize the approximation of the numerical solution in this particular study domain.

References
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