Explosive welding is a solid-state process, which is an advanced form of joining two metal plates with dissimilar metallurgical properties, irrespective of the differences in physical and chemical properties. In this process, high pressure of explosive is used to accelerate one metal plate over another to form the bimetallic product. The pressure needs to be sufficiently high and for enough length of time to achieve inter-atomic bonds. During the explosive welding process, a jetting phenomenon occurs at the collision point which cleans the top oxide layer over metals and leaves the virgin surfaces that help in the joining process. The metals are joined without losing their pre-bonded properties with higher bond strengths than the strength of the weaker parent material. There are various critical factors such as explosive type, mass of explosive, stand-off distance, type of plate material, velocity of detonation etc. which affect the bond quality. Researchers mainly play with all these parameters to bring out the best characteristics of the bimetallic product that can be used for the desired applications such as heat exchanger, pressure vessels etc.
Part of the book: Material Flow Analysis