Modeling Of A Single Pulse Electric Discharge At Sphere/Flat Interface By Coupling Contact Multiphysics And Phase Transformations

G. Maizza, P. Di Napoli, and R. Cagliero
Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali ed Ingegneria Chimica, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
Published in 2010

Contact electro-thermal phenomena are of great theoretical and technological interest to a large number of processing applications, such as spot welding, current-assisted sintering, electrical circuitry (switches) and motors. A model has been developed, aiming at predicting physical and metallurgical phenomena in a steel sample upon rapid heating induced by current pulse discharge. Electric pulse discharge involves both bulk and contact multiphysics phenomena due to phase transformation of the steel and to the change of electrical, thermal and mechanical properties of the couple. The goal of the study is to build and solve a bulk/contact multiphysics model to predict(i)the physical and metallurgical fields and(ii) the geometry of the transformed area in the steel. An experimental methodology has been carried out to validate the overall model.