The aviation industry is considering using hydrogen-based engines for aircraft in the future. However, storing this energy source poses challenges for aircraft manufacturers. Hydrogen only becomes liquid at minus 253 degrees Celsius. Both tanks and pipe systems in the aircraft must be absolutely leak-proof at these low temperatures.
A new type of welding process is intended to help: magnetic pulse welding. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have now demonstrated that this joining process can reliably produce extremely resilient metallic mixed joints for cryogenic applications. They were able to achieve the excellent joining properties in cooperation with the Technical University of Munich.
Magnetic pulse welding is not based on high heat input, but mainly on high pressure between the joining partners. At the beginning of the process, there is a distance of one to one and a half millimeters between the joining partners. One of the two partners is accelerated by a magnetic field. As the process continues, the metals collide with a bright flash at high speed - at 200 to 300 meters per second. This creates high pressure at the joining surface, which ultimately leads to welding. Magnetic pulse welding can be used to join metal combinations that are important for hydrogen technology, such as stainless steel and aluminum, which were previously difficult or impossible to weld together. In addition to aviation, the researchers also see applications in the aerospace, electromobility and electronics sectors.
