Abstract

Explosion bonding of metals is a mature and reliable manufacturing process for the production of high quality, metallurgically bonded metal combinations that are difficult or impossible to produce by conventional metal bonding techniques. In explosion bonding the actual process of metal bonding occurs over extremely short time periods. Explosives are used, and there is no significant overall heating of the metals being bonded. From a metallurgical standpoint the process may be characterized as a diffusionless, cold-pressure bonding technique involving localized, extremely short-time, plastic deformation of the metals near the bond zone. The process is used by several manufacturers throughout the world to produce clad plate and sheet for corrosion-resistant chemical-process vessels, for heat-exchanger tube sheets, electrical and structural weld-transition joints and several other specialized applications. Process fundamentals and mechanisms are described along with a summary of practical operating parameters. Numerous industrial applications are described.