Explosive Welding of Al-MS Plates and its Interface Characterization

Abstract

Explosive welding is a solid state welding process in which two similar or different materials are claded with the help of explosive energy. The high pressure generated during the process helps to achieve the interatomic metallurgical bonding in the two materials. In this research work, 5 mm aluminum plate was cladded with 20 mm mild steel for plate length of 300 mm x100 mm. Here parallel plate explosive welding set-up configuration using low VoD explosive consisting of mixture of Trimonite-1 and common salt was used. The interface joints were analyzed using optical inverted metallurgical microscope, SEM and Vickers Micro-hardness. It was observed that the value of micro-hardness at the interface was high as compared to the parent materials and decreased as we move away from the interface on both the sides. The optical and the SEM analysis showed straight morphology at most of the welded area. Al-MS plates were successfully welded using this low VoD explosive.