Continuum thermodynamic formulation of models for electromagnetic thermoinelastic solids with application in electromagnetic metal forming

The purpose of this work is the formulation and application of a continuum thermodynamic approach to the phenomenological modeling of a class of engineering materials which can be dynamically formed using strong magnetic fields. This is carried out in the framework of a thermodynamic, internal-variable-based formulation in which the deformation, temperature and magnetic fields are in general coupled. This coupling takes the form of the Lorentz force as an additional supply of momentum, and the electromotive power as an additional supply of energy, in the material. In the current approach, the basic thermomechanical field relations for mass, momentum and moment of momentum are obtained from the total energy balance via invariance, and completed by Maxwells field equations. The constitutive formulation is based on the exploitation of the Müller-Liu entropy principle, here for the case of isotropic thermoelastic, viscoplastic material behaviour. The resulting reduced constitutive and field relations and restrictions are then applied to the modeling and simulation of high-speed electromagnetic forming of metal tubes and sheet metal. In this context, scaling arguments show that, over the relevant length- and timescales of engineering interest, the evolution of the magnetic field is diffusive in nature, and thermal conduction is negligible. Comparison of the simulation and experimental results for the final sheet metal form shows very good agreement.Received: 16 March 2004, Accepted: 6 May 2004, Published online: 17 September 2004PACS: 46.05. + b, 46.25.Hf, 46.35 + z Correspondence to: B. Svendsen