Influence of interlayer technique on microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti/Al cladding plate manufactured via explosive welding

Abstract

In this study, different series of TA2/5083 cladding plates with and without the 1060 interlayers (0.3 and 0.5 mm thick) were manufactured via explosive welding. From the perspective of dynamics and energy, the perfectly inelastic collision theory and the momentum conservation theory were applied to calculate collision velocity and kinetic energy loss of each layer, thereby analyzing and studying the action mechanism of an interlayer in Ti/Al explosive welding. Microstructural work and mechanical tests were carried out to research the effect of the interlayer technique on the comprehensive properties of TA2/5083 explosive clads. The results indicated that the use of the interlayer technique could significantly reduce the collision velocity and actually divided the total kinetic energy loss of the flyer plate through multiple collision processes, thereby solving the problem of excessive kinetic energy loss in direct welding. The cladding plate manufactured via direct welding presented the planar interfacial morphology where the continue melting layer accompanied by a slender microcrack were observed, while the cladding plates with the interlayers exhibited good quality of bonding without major defects. In addition, the typical microstructures near the TA2/1060 interfaces, such as vortex and melting block, were reported. Mechanical tests of the three cladding plates found that the values of microhardness near the interfaces were increased due to the work hardening in explosive welding. The TA2/5083 cladding plate with a 0.3 mm thick 1060 interlayer had the highest tensile and shear strength, showing the best quality welded joint. The fractographic study indicated that ductile fracture was the main character.