Electromagnetic pulse welding (EMPW) is an emerging solid-state welding technology. Its application in connecting power conductors and terminals can effectively enhance joint reliability. However, EMPW joints exhibit unbonded intermediate zones, and their tensile performance requires improvement, which severely restricts the application of EMPW technology in power conductor connections.

To address this, this paper proposes a split field shaper structure to further improve the bonding performance of electromagnetic pulse welded joints.

To validate the effectiveness of the proposed split field shaper structure, this paper combines equivalent circuit analysis, finite element simulation models, and mechanical property testing of experimental specimens to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.

Theoretical analysis of both the split and traditional field shaper provides the basis for the split field shaper structure design. Finite element simulation models reveal the influence patterns of the field shaper structure on the electromagnetic and motion parameters of the joint deformation zone. Mechanical property tests validated the split field shaper’s enhancement of joint bonding performance. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared to the integrated field shaper, joints prepared using the segmented field shaper exhibit a 22.73% increase in tensile performance and a 2.68 mm extension in the total weld length.

The proposed split field shaper successfully enhances joint mechanical properties relative to conventional field shapers while maintaining overall dimensional consistency.