Experimental study of electromagnetic pulse compaction of Cu powder

A series of experiments were performed to compact Cu powder through electromagnetic forming process with flat coil. The effects of discharge voltage, aspect-ratio (ratio of diameter to height of powder body), drivers, compacting times and the compacting direction on the relative density of the compacted specimens were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the relative density increases with the increase of the discharge voltage and the aspect-ratio; a density gradient is in the specimen along the direction of single compaction and the minimum relative density is at the bottom center of the specimen; the driver with proper thickness is beneficial to increasing the relative density. When the equipment energy is limited, the repeated compaction and the double direction compaction are efficient ways to manufacture homogeneous and high-density powder parts.