Examination of copper/stainless steel joints formed by explosive welding

In this study, bonding ability of copper and steel with explosion welding was investigated using different ratios of explosive and different stand-off distance. Experimental studies showed out that, copper and stainless steel could be bonded with a good quality of bonding properties with explosion welding. In the bonding interface, intermetallics were not formed. It was observed that, when explosive ratio and stand-off distance were increased smooth bonding interface was transformed to a wavy bonding interface. As the ratio of explosive and stand-off distance increase, the amplitude and wavelength of wave were increased. It was found that, hardness of bonding interface and outer face of plates were increased because of deformation that was originating from impact the effect. Total interface area increased as a result of wavy interface, which was caused by increased explosive ratio and stand-off distance. In addition, wavy interfaces did not separate after tensile-shearing test. Bending tests applied on bonded samples had different diameters indicated that interfaces of the bonded samples have not any defect. EDS analyses in SEM showed that diffusion did not take place between bonding plates, however, diffusion was observed after annealing of the bonded samples for different times. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.