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Explosion Welding, Technical Growth and Commercial

Abstract
The explosion welding technology has, finally, come into its own. The technology has been used (and abused) for over forty years. This paper traces some of the history of the technical development starting with the observations stemming from shrapnel welding itself to armor. DuPont Chemical developed it following the Second World War and patented the technology in 1964. They licensed the Detaclad process around the world. Explosion welding has been successfully mastered and used by many specialized, commercial organizations long after the licenses expired. The paper recounts some of the interesting anecdotes that accompany new technology development. The parameters and uses of explosion welding are well documented and published. This paper will highlight some of the major events along the route to commercializing a very unique, genuinely interesting and now mature technology. indicate this. The melt line is inconsequential to design and use of explosion-welded materials since it is only 0.05 to 0.2 microns thick in the observed titanium-steel combination and is not seen by an optical microscope. (Figure 1) There is not much reference to explosion metal working during the late 1950s. Explosion forming was considered a panacea for many of the new metal forming issues created by the emerging space age. Explosion forming uses much, much smaller charges to conform metal to a die. It is usually done under water so to employ evenly applied hydraulic pressure of the water pressure generated by the explosion. Welding of the metal blank to the die was occasionally observed if too much explosive was used. Hardening of metal is another use of explosion metalworking. Some metals such as austenitic manganese steel (a.k.a. Hadfield steels) increase in hardness and wear resistance when mechanically cold worked. Railroad track frogs are one of these applications. Explosives can be used to apply that cold work. V. Philipchuk may have been the first to realize the commercial uses of explosion metalworking. He was working with explosion forming when he noted areas of the blank welded to the die, as mentioned above. Philipchuk may have been first to file a Canadian patent for an explosion metalworking. Meanwhile, Arnold Holtzman and a team at DuPont in Delaware were busily working on explosion metalworking. DuPont was a natural for such research with their extensive experience in the production of explosives. This group was also working on explosive forming and made similar observations about metal blanks welding to dies. Holtzmans group went on to develop the metal work the hardening technique. Shock synthesis was another technology that was eventually patented by this DuPont team. Holtzman used a high speed-framing camera to record the progression of the explosion in time units of 10-5 seconds. They were able to observe and confirm that an energetic jet forms between the two metals that cleanses the surfaces. The jet is key to explosion welding. The diagram of the explosion weld cladding process illustrates the manufacturing steps and key process parameters. (Figure 2) In 1962 Holtzman filed for a US patent for explosion welding. The patent was granted in 1964 and commercial production of bi-metallic, explosion welded clad began at DuPont in 1965. (Figure 3) John Banker who is now Vice President of Dynamic Materials Corporations DMC Clad Metal Division was with the DuPont team in the 1970s. He says that in the early years of development that DuPont had over 20 metallurgists working on explosion metal working. Detaclad licensed the explosion welding process around the world in Europe and Asia. Many of these original licensees have subsequently 1

1. Introduction
Explosion welding like many technologies is one that came out of war. Not a development but an observation. It can be guessed that from the first use of metal projectiles fired with explosives and impinging on other metal surfaces, explosion welding has been observed. The first mention in the literature of shrapnel welding to armor or pilings was in the First World War. Since the Chinese invented gunpowder they were possibly the first inadvertent explosion welders. Most of the developments in metallurgy have been the duplication of observed phenomena. You dont think somebody set out to invent stainless steel do you. Most likely the observation was made (probably in a mid-evil salvage yard that) some iron did not rust. Ancient jewelry is often the best record of advances in metallurgy. Although some have considered making gold, silver and titanium-clad jewelry from explosion welded clad metal, and others have envisioned superior golf clubs with explosive performance, the commercially successful uses have been industrial. In 1944 during the Second World War that L.R. Carl first noted, welding under high velocity. Carl performed a series of experiments to reproduce the solid-state weld as he called it. His first experiments were with brass. His photomicrographs did not reveal melting at the bond line and so the description as solid-state welding. Modern high powered electron microscopy augmented by energy and mass conservation calculations now indicate an extremely fine line of melt probably occurs the bond line. Limited experiments conducted by three separate academic groups all

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P0439 recombined under DMC who purchased the Detaclad business in 1996. Today, there are a small handful of technically sophisticated cladding companies around the world. Several, very small practitioners producing mainly small tubesheet blanks come and go in the commercial world. (Figure 4) Banker tells of some of the first commercial production going to the US Mint for blanks to make new composite coins. The US government discontinued silver coins in the mid-1960s. DuPonts new Detaclad Division supplied the first multi-layer coin blanks for dimes, quarters and fifty cent pieces. Detaclad supplied approximately 70 million pounds of coin blank stock to the mints in Denver and Philadelphia. The clad composite was a tri-layer: copper-nickel with a copper layer between. Six-inch thick billets were explosion welded, each about the size of a desktop and then sent to a hot rolling mill for conversion reduction to the coins near final gage. Coins are no longer made this way but it was high profile start for the infant technology. Others, in Europe had also been working on explosion weld clad technology both in the free world and behind the iron curtain. At least in the published work Detaclad was considerably ahead of other groups in the 1960s. Regardless of what DuPonts initial motivation for this development work it became obvious to the chemical manufacturing group that there are great benefits to integral, bi-metallic cladding. Explosion welding allows the joining of highly dissimilar metals. Even metals with highly dissimilar crystal structure can be welded if in a flat form and exhibit good ductility. Explosion welding is primarily a process that joins large flat surfaces. Large amounts of explosives are used for each shot. Good mechanical ductility is necessary to withstand the energy of the explosion. A list of metals typically clad follows. Some of the first products clad for industry were tubesheet blanks for heat exchangers. Often a corrosive liquid has to be heated for processing chemicals. The exchanger tubes may be an alloy of stainless steel, nickel, copper, titanium or zirconium. The tubesheet blank has one surface of the usually circular blank clad with an alloy while the strong, economical carbon steel is the back side. It is drilled to accept the tubes and they are either welded or rolled into the tubesheet. To this day tubesheet blanks are a major application of the technology. Although many applications for explosion metalworking and specifically explosion welding have been explored and developed the list does not grow much. The primary industries served with explosion welding are chemical manufacturing, oil production and refining, primary metals production, power generation, shipbuilding and cryogenic gas production. Most of the applications are components for custom pressure vessels and the rest are for some sort of electrical or mechanical transition joint. The industries that the technology originally served continue to be best customers for explosion clad metals. What has not stayed constant is the size of the products produced and the quality of the clad. Both have grown several fold. This has been in response to the demands of the traditional industries served by the technology. Advances have been in new metal combinations, much larger size plates and a cost reduction and reduction in nonbonded area. Non-bonded areas are now a rarity. Two elements contribute to the growth in technology. One is research and development investment and the other is in facility investment. Better understanding of the process has allowed tighter control on the manufacturing parameters. Large plates, over thirty feet in length, especially in titanium cladding has required considerable development effort. This is now mastered. Even with good understanding of the technology proper manufacturing facilities are a must. Traditional metal preparation equipment and handling are not adequate. Greater precision is required to yield consistent, reliable results. Large plates are produced for oil refinery equipment, power generation and chemical equipment manufacturers. Some can weigh up to 100,000 pounds and exceed 40 feet in length. For products that dont require huge plates technology advancement helps lower costs in all instances. The technology has the advantage of cost effective production of bi-metallic clad metal measuring a few feet to those 2 described above. Flexibility in size, metal combinations and expedited delivery are all features in which explosion welding excels. Jokes about the business booming or exploding or the most powerful name in metalworking have all gotten pretty worn. However, it is still, very much a niche business driven be a handful of companies and people. All puns aside, it truly is an exciting and dynamic technology serving unique needs of industry.

References:
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Tables
Cladder Metals Stainless Steel, 300 series Stainless Steel, 410 Nickel Alloys Duplex Stainless Steel Copper Alloys Aluminum Titanium Zirconium Tantalum Table 1: Material Clad Backer Metals Carbon Steel Cr-Mo Alloy Steel Forgings Stainless Steel

Figures

Figure 1: Bond Zone Between Titanium-Steel Interface

Stainless Steel World 2004 2004 KCI Publishing BV

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Figure 2: Explosion clad plate manufacturing

Stainless Steel World 2004 2004 KCI Publishing BV

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Figure 3: DuPonts Original Patent Application

Stainless Steel World 2004 2004 KCI Publishing BV

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Figure 4: Dynamic Materials Corporation today

Stainless Steel World 2004 2004 KCI Publishing BV