Electromgnetic joining of aluminum alloy tubes to high toughness polyurethane rubber cores is studied in order to estimate the joining strength and to analyze the effect of the process variables. The equation which can estimate the joining strength is proposed under considering the elastic recovery of the polyurethane core and the radial shrinkage of the core by pulling it axially. The obtained results are as follows : 1) The joining strength is mainly dependent on the magnitude of residual elastic strain of the polyurethane core. 2) The radial shrinkage (residual strain reduction) of the core during the axial pulling causes the joining strength to decrease severely. The equation for the reduced axial strength is proposed and it is found that the estimated values agree well with experimental results. 3) The magnitude of radial shrinkage could be reduced for the smaller value of ratio l/r. 4) The joining strength in metal/polymer joining increases as the friction coefficient increases. But its effect of friction coefficient is insignificant in comparison with the case of metal/metal joining.