Numerical investigation of CP-Ti & Cu110 impact welding using smoothed particle hydrodynamics and arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian methods

Vaporizing Foil Actuator Welding (VFAW) is a solid-state impact welding process where the material is deformed at high strain rates with severe plastic deformation occurring at the interface. Thus, conventional Lagrangian numerical simulation methods are not able to accurately model this process. In this study, two alternative numerical methods, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE), were utilized to investigate parameters that are difficult to measure experimentally, i.e., temperature, pressure, collision velocity, and plastic strain, during CP-Ti/Cu110 impact welding. The other parameters predicted by these two numerical methods such as wavelength and amplitude were used to validate the numerical results versus experimental observations. While both simulation methods can predict the wavy interface pattern created, the vorticities, jetting phenomenon, and molten zone can only be predicted by the SPH method, not the ALE method.