The rapid vaporization of thin metallic conductors can be used for innovative high speedforming processes. Metal wires or foils are vaporized when a high current is applied. Thegenerated metal gas or plasma expands very rapidly with high pressure and impacts onan intermediate polyurethane plate near the wires or foils. A shock wave is induced intothe polyurethane plate and provides the pressure pulse to the sheet metal, leading to adeformation of the sheet. This process requires no expensive tool coils and no electricalconductivity of the workpiece, which makes it attractive to multiple fields of applicationsuch as forming and impact welding. In this study, the basic process parameters thatinfluence the shock pressure were experimentally identified including the charging energyof capacitor bank, foil geometry (thickness and width) and thickness of polyurethane plate.Based on the experiments of the parameter investigations, different new foil designs wereinvestigated in order to acquire a tailored pressure distribution. The results show that theshock pressures can be located at different positions in a discontinuous way. Besides, thepressure amplitudes and areas at different positions can also be varied, which dependson the vaporized foil geometries at those positions.
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