Investigation of mechanical properties of bimetallic square tubes produced by shape rolling of Al/Cu circular pipes

Abstract

We investigated the effect of shape rolling process on the bond strength and mechanical properties of Al/Cu bimetal pipes. A bimetal circular pipe was fabricated by the explosive welding process. Then, the bimetal explosive-welded circular pipe was reshaped to a square tube by means of the shape rolling process. The mechanical properties of explosive welded pipes and shape-rolled tubes at the various stages of the rolling process were experimentally investigated by using the shear testing, micro hardness testing along the thicknesses and measurement of yield. The obtained results show that with the increase of roll gap reduction during the various stages, the hardness increases, while the shear strength decreases. However, their effects on hardness increase are not the same for both materials. Yield stress measurement results indicate that the average yield stress increases during explosive welding and also shape rolling process, but the rate of increase is more intensive in the explosive welding process. Moreover, the morphology of the interface before and after the Shape rolling was examined by Optical microscope (OM) and the presence of the intermetallic compounds at the interface was investigated by the electron microscope (SEM) and EDS analysis. Examination of the interfaces morphology revealed that, due to the brittle nature of the intermetallic compounds at the joining interface, the nucleation and propagation of micro cracks accelerated during the shape rolling process and the amount of micro cracks increases which makes the shear strength decrease.