Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

The effect of explosive welding parameters on metallurgical and mechanical

interfacial features of Inconel 625/plain carbon steel bimetal plate
H.R. Zareie Rajani n, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi
School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box-11365-4563, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Like all cladding methods, interfacial features dominate the ultimate mechanical and metallurgical
Received 14 April 2012 behavior of explosive cladded samples. Therefore, knowing the effect of explosive welding parameters
Received in revised form on interfacial characteristics can be helpful in adjusting the welding parameters to obtain final desired
3 July 2012
properties. The present study aims to relate the load ratio and standoff distance as two main explosive
Accepted 4 July 2012
Available online 14 July 2012
welding parameters to interfacial features of explosive cladded Inconel 625/plain carbon steel bimetal
plate such as interfacial structure, interfacial local melting phenomenon, localization of plastic strain,
Keywords: hardness variation across the interface and adhesion strength. As the results indicate, low impact
Nickel based superalloys energies are accompanied by linear interfacial structure, and increasing the impact energy initiates the
Steel
waves at the interface. However, excessive impact energies lead to spoiling the wavy structure locally.
Welding
Moreover, by raising the impact energy through increasing the load ratio and standoff distance, the
Mechanical characterization
Interfaces locally melted zones appear in the Inconel side in vicinity of the interface. Higher impact energies
promote the continuity of these interfacial cast layers. Though chemical elements of two materials are
mixed together in these regions, no sign of intermetallic compounds formation is observed. According
to the obtained results, raising the impact energy localizes the plastic deformation of steel side,
resulting in the formation of adiabatic strain bands (ASB). The microhardness profiles reveal the
hardening effect of collision in the vicinity of the interface with the exception of samples where the
localization of strain in steel side hinders the hardening effect. Furthermore, the results of the shear test
show that adhesion strength possesses an optimum value versus the increment of impact energy. By
raising the load ratio and the standoff distance, the adhesion strength improves, but applying excessive
collision energies drops this value significantly.
& 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction segregation [3–7] during fusion cladding has persuaded industries

Inconel 625 as a nickel based superalloy is featured in devel-
opment of strategic industries where a harsh environment makes
the application of materials possessing superior characteristics
inevitable. Inconel 625 owes such a constructive role to its hot
strength and great corrosion resistance [1]. Despite the excellent
properties of Inconel 625, high production costs have restricted
the individual application of this alloy. Consequently, cladding
and welding procedures are applied to lay Inconel superalloy on
an appropriate economical substrate. Though fusion welding and
cladding processes are inexpensive, available and flexible, the
deterioration of corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of
Inconel 625 due to intense heat input [2,3], intermetallic com-
pounds development [2], hot cracking [4,5], dilution [2] and
n
Correspondence to: School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, College of
Engineering, University of Tehran, Kargar Shomali Street, Tehran, Iran.
Tel.: þ98 12508631570.
E-mail address: hamid.r.zareie@ut.ac.ir (H.R. Zareie Rajani).
to extend their cladding methods into solid state procedures.
Explosive cladding/welding is a potential solid state method to
fabricate Inconel 625-substrate bimetal plates for industries
needing superalloy characteristics. The whole procedure of explo-
sive cladding can be summarized in the following steps. As Fig. 1
depicts the parallel setup for explosive cladding of plates, the
cladding plate (flyer plate) lies on the substrate (parent plate)
with a uniform predetermined air gap called stand-off distance (d).
Also, a uniform thickness of proper explosive by a known
detonation velocity (VD) will be laid on the flyer plate. The mass
ratio of the explosive to the flyer plate is called the load ratio (R)
which plays an important role in explosive cladding procedures.
By detonating the explosive, the flyer plate accelerates towards
the parent plate through great pressure which is released by the
explosion. The flyer plate collides with the parent plate obliquely
by a collision angle of b and impact velocity of VF (Fig. 1). As a
result of intense oblique impact, the contaminant surface layer of
plates will be removed through the formation of a jet. Higher load
ratios and/or longer stand-off distances yield higher impact

0921-5093/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2012.07.012
 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464 455

velocities at a fixed detonation velocity, and therefore increase
the possibility of a jet formation. A pure metallic contact surface
issuing from the jet formation phenomenon besides great impact
pressure bringing the gap between the free surface of the plates to
an atomic distances results in metallic bonding between the flyer
and parent plates [8].
Like all other cladding methods, the explosive welded inter-
face, where joining materials meet, plays an important role in
eventual characteristics of the cladded plate. Intermetallic com-
pounds formation, interfacial structure, local melting and adhe-
sion strength are all metallurgical and mechanical interfacial
features that dominate the overall behavior of the explosive
welded plate. As a result, for each case of explosive welding, the
effect of welding parameters on interfacial features and conse-
quently overall properties must be investigated to evaluate how
we can reach a specific characteristic or avoid an undesired
feature in final cladded plate through controlling the welding
parameters. The present study aims to relate the most important
explosive welding parameters including load ratio and standoff
distance to interfacial features of Inconel 625/plain carbon steel
bimetal plate such as shear strength, hardness variation across
the interface, local melting at interface, interfacial structure and
localization of plastic deformation in the vicinity of interface.
and layer-like particles are TNT. Anfo is a low detonation velocity
explosive which does not seem able to form a stable and strong
enough explosion. The existence of TNT particles as a high
detonation velocity explosive enhances the formation of a stable
explosion. Also, the uniformity of the mixture as an important
factor must be controlled. The main characteristics of the used
explosive are shown in Table 2, in which the velocity of detona-
tion (VOD) was measured at the thickness of 100 mm. As Fig. 2b
shows, the velocity of detonation (VOD) is a function of explosive
thickness, where thickening the explosive layer over the flyer
plate increases the velocity of detonation. As a result, though
same explosive is used to produce all samples, according to the
utilized load ratio the velocity of detonation might varies among
them. Moreover, the C-4 booster and electrical detonator were
applied to detonate the explosives. Since in fabricated samples
the length of the weld is not long enough, the C-4 which is a high
detonation velocity explosive has been used as a booster around
the detonator to be certain that a uniform stable explosion is
reached during a short period.

2. Experimental procedure

In all fabricated samples, Inconel 625 plate with the dimen-

sions of 150  100  3 mm3 was clad on ASTM A517 low carbon
steel plate with the dimensions of 130  80  20 mm3. The
chemical compositions of the materials measured by a quanto-
meter are listed in Table 1. Also, both plates were chosen in
annealed condition to avoid the likely effect of material texture on
the results. In order to remove coarse contaminants from the
contact surfaces, the plates were grinded with emery papers up to
a 600 grade. The uniform blend of Anfo and TNT was selected as
the explosive material (Fig. 2a). The globular particles are Anfo,

Fig. 2. (a) Utilized explosive and (b) the variation of velocity of detonation versus
thickness of explosive.

Table 2
The characteristics of utilized explosive.

Chemical composition Density Average detonation Gurney energy

(wt%) (g/cm3) velocity (m/s) (KJ/kg)

Ammonium Nitrate 0.9 3300 1230

(84%)þGasoline
Fig. 1. The schematic view of parallel setup for explosive cladding of plates. (6%) þTNT (10%)
(a) After detonating the explosive and (b) before detonating the explosive.

Table 1
The chemical composition of studying materials (wt%).

Alloy Ti Cu Mo Nb Al Ni Cr Mn Si C Fe

Steel ASTM A517  0.026  0.03 0.023 0.02 0.025 0.5 0.18 0.13 Balance
Inconel 625 0.3  9.46 3.81 0.32 Balance 21.12 0.42 0.34 0.08 0.48
456 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464

The prepared explosive blend was laid on the flyer plate by
means of a wooden box possessing a height corresponding to the
desired load ratio (Fig. 3a). Also, as Fig. 3a depicts, the determined
stand-off distance was applied by small copper spacers. Finally,
the prepared setup was transferred to an explosive chamber
(Fig. 3b), and explosive cladding was carried out safely. Regarding
the explosive welding window plotted for used materials and
after running several dry tests, the range of welding parameters
(load ratio and standoff distance as main parameters) at which
the visually sound joints can be fabricated were determined.
In the next step, five different explosive cladding conditions
with various parameters were chosen from the obtained safe
range, which were designed to investigate the effect of explosive
welding parameters on interfacial characteristics of bimetal
plates. The load ratio (R) and stand-off distance were chosen as
the primary welding parameters to vary impact velocity and
consequently impact energy. Details of the selected cladding
conditions are listed in Table 3. In order to measure the impact
velocity of the flyer plate, the following equation proposed by
Vaidyanathan and et al. [9] was utilized as a trusty estimation.
V f =V D ¼ 0:0002ðEG Þ0:5 ðd=t f Þ0:275 R0:423 ð1Þ
where Vf, VD, EG and tf denote impact velocity of the flyer plate,
detonation velocity, Gurney energy of explosive and thickness of
flyer plate respectively. Also, d defines stand-off distance, and
R represents the load ratio. Moreover, the impact energy is given by
E ¼ 0:5ðrVÞV 2f ð2Þ
r and V denoting the density and the volume of Inconel 625
respectively are known values (r ¼8440 Kg/m3, V¼45 cm3). Also,
the Vf representing the impact velocity of Inconel as the flyer plate
can be measured through Eq. (1).
The fabricated bimetal plates were cut and analyzed through
optical and scanning electron microscope equipped with Energy
Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) to study the interfacial
structure, local melting at interface and plastic strain localization
near the weld line. Moreover, for each sample, the hardness
profile was obtained across the interface by the Vickers micro-
hardness testing machine using a load of 200 g and dwell time of
15 s. As Fig. 4a indicates, for reducing the measurement errors,
the hardness was obtained along four distinct parallel lines, and
the average value of these lines was reported as the final hardness
profile. Also, in order to evaluate the shear strength of the cladded
plates, the shear test was carried out according to the DIN 50162
standard [10]. Fig. 4b shows the prepared shear test sample and
corresponding fixture according to the mentioned standard
(Fig. 4c). By applying pressure on top of the sample, the interface
undergoes shear stress which finally dissembles the cladded
bimetal. The shear strength is calculated by dividing the max-
imum pushing load by contact area of cladding plate and
substrate. Also, to be more accurate, the shear strength test was
carried out three times for each sample, and the average value
was reported as the final shear strength. Furthermore, the X-ray
diffraction test was conducted on the fracture surfaces to con-
clude if the fracture path mainly lies on the interface or goes off
the interface.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Interfacial morphology

In explosive welding, due to nonuniform velocity of the

Fig. 3. (a) The prepared setup for explosive cladding and (b) the utilized explosion
chamber.
explosion along the weld seam, the interface usually does not
possess a uniform structure [11]. Clearly, this feature is more
significant near the detonation zone where explosion is more
unstable. Anyhow, by considering the main shape of interface
along the weld line as a dominant interfacial structure, it is
concluded that linearity and waviness are two possible interfacial
forms in explosive welded plates. Various studies are carried out
on mechanism of wave formation at the interface of explosive
welded materials [10,11]. In noticeable parts of these researches

Table 3
The studying cladding parameters.

Samples Load Stand-off Explosive Detonation Impact Impact Collision

ratio (R) distance (mm) thickness (mm) velocity (m/s) velocity (m/s) energy (KJ) angle (Degree)

No. 1 1 4 28 2280 547 56.82 13.8

No. 2 2 2 56 2750 732 101.75 15.3
No. 3 2 4 56 2750 885 148.73 18.5
No. 4 3 2 84 3100 979 182.00 18.1
No. 5 3 4 84 3100 1184 266.21 22.0
 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464 457

Fig. 4. (a) The indentations used for plotting the hardness profile across the interface. (b) Prepared shear test sample and the corresponding sample. (c) The DIN 50162
standard used for fabricating the shear test samples and fixture.

Fig. 6. (a) Interface of sample no. 3 (load ratio of 2, standoff distance of 4 mm).
(b) Interface of sample no. 4 (load ratio of 3, standoff distance of 2 mm).

Fig. 5. (a) Linear interface of sample no. 1 (load ratio of 1, standoff distance of
4 mm). (b) Initiation of few waves at the interface of sample no. 2 (load ratio of 2,
standoff distance of 2 mm).
[11–15], it is shown that fluid-like behavior of materials arisen
from high pressures in vicinity of the interface can explain the
formation of interfacial waves. These proposed mechanisms are
mainly based on flow instability or Von Kármán vortex streets
theories in which the jet layer is assumed as an impediment to
fluid flow of material.
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 illustrate the interfacial structure of five
different cladded samples. As it is seen, the linearity is the
dominant shape of interface in sample no. 1 cladded by low
impact energy (Fig. 5a). Anyhow, Fig. 5b suggests formation of
few interfacial waves by increment of impact energy in sample
458 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464
no. 2. Regarding the mentioned mechanisms, by thickening of the
jet layer as an impediment to the material flow, the flow instab-
ility and consequently the probability of wave formation rises.
Also, it is proved that increasing the impact energy and collision
angle results in a thicker jet layer in explosive welding [11]. Thus,
the occurrence of few waves in sample no. 2 can be attributed to
the thickening of jet layer caused by higher impact energy and
collision angle.
By raising the load ratio and standoff distance in samples no. 3
and no. 4, the dominant interfacial form shifts to waviness (Fig. 6).
The reason for this alternation can be due to the further increase of
impact energy in these samples which thickens the jet layer more,
and consequently heightens the wave formation phenomenon.
Regarding the Von Kármán vortex streets theory, the locally intense
fluctuations in material flow along the weld line makes the forma-
tion of vortices possible [12,15]. As a result, as Fig. 6 shows, the
existence of few vortices at the interface can be ascribed to locally
severe flow fluctuations happening through the welding procedure.
As Fig. 7 depicts the interface of sample no. 5, by further
increasing the impact energy in this sample, a severe turbulence
of material flow happens locally, and consequent intense mixing
of two materials may potentially spoil the wavy structure of
interface in these local regions. Regarding all observed results, it
can be concluded that low and very high impact energies both can
promote a linear structure at the interface of explosive cladded
Inconel 625/plain carbon steel bimetal plate, though the linearity
in high impact energy conditions issues from turbulence of
material flow and linearity in low impact energy condition comes
from a relatively stable flow of material.
Fig. 7. Local turbulence and intense mixing of materials at the interface of sample
no. 5 (load ratio of 3, standoff distance of 4 mm).
Fig. 8. Non-existence of locally melted zones at the interface of samples no. 1 (a) and no. 2 (b). Locally melted regions at the interface of samples no. 3 (c) and no. 4 (d).
(e) Continuous cast layer at the interface of sample no. 5.
3.2. Interfacial local melting
Despite the solid state nature of explosive welding process, the
severe dissipation of impact energy besides an intense friction
between the jet layer and contact surfaces, which may increase
the interfacial temperature above the melting point of materials
[16,17], and consequently leads to the formation of locally melted
zones along the interface. Like every cast structure, these small
areas might contain solidification defects or intermetallic com-
pounds dropping the shear strength of the cladded plate. Also,
growth of these locally melted areas can develop a continuous
interfacial cast layer. Since this layer does not possess a sufficient
hot strength, it cannot stand the reflected tension waves in
materials through the welding, and causes the failure of the
joining process.
For revealing the locally melted area, the backscattered elec-
tron (BSE) images must be utilized. The mixing of chemical
elements in the melted regions leads to a different corresponding
contrast in BSE images, and facilitates their detection. As Fig. 8
illustrates, by increasing the impact energy through raising load
ratio and standoff distance, the locally melted zones appear in
samples no. 3, no. 4 and no. 5 in shape of gray areas. This
phenomenon can be ascribed to higher levels of energy dissipa-
tion in these samples, increasing the probability of interfacial
local melting. Also, it is seen that continuity of melted zones
boosts by raising the impact energy. For example, narrow con-
tinuous cast layers can be detected more frequently at the
interface of sample no. 5 possessing higher impact energy
(Fig. 8e), unlike the two other samples in which these regions
are usually isolated (Fig. 8c and d). Moreover, the results show
that these regions only form on the Inconel side of interface, and
no melting zone is detectable on the steel side. The reason for this
observation can be found in the significant difference between the
thermal diffusivity of these two materials. Steel by a higher
thermal diffusivity takes the generated heat off the interface at
a sufficient rate to prevent the melting. On the other side, Inconel
625 is not able to transfer the generated heat as fast as steel, and
consequent accumulation of the heat melts the Inconel side
locally. Fig. 9 compares the chemical composition of an interfacial
 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464
Fig. 9. Energy dispersive analysis of (a) steel, (b) Inconel 625 and (c) the locally melted zone at the interface of sample no. 4.
locally melted zone with two cladding plates through an energy
dispersive analysis. As it is observed, though this region lies on
the Inconel side, the amount of Iron in the melted zone is much
more than what the Inconel plate contains. This extra Iron content
might belong to trapped jet particles, which were mixed by other
elements after melting.
Furthermore, since interfacial diffusion of elements is possible
to occur [18], it is vital to explain the reasons making the local
melting phenomenon a more likely cause than diffusion phenom-
enon for development of observed gray regions. Firstly, this
region is not uniform, and only in sample no. 5 does the
continuity of this zone improve. Regarding the principles of
diffusion phenomenon, no convincing reason is found to explain
such a significant variation in diffusion behavior of elements over
a small zone. Secondly, the uniform distribution of alloying
elements across this region (Fig. 10) contradicts with known
characteristics of diffusion areas where a gradient of elements
must exist. In other words, if diffusion was responsible for
development of these zones, the amount of diffused alloying
elements would have to fall by moving off the interface. However,
results do not show any hint of chemical gradient across these
areas. As a result, though interfacial diffusion might exist, the
local melting phenomenon is a better explanation for observed
gray zones.
An extremely short time of the explosive welding process
prevents significant interfacial diffusion of elements [11]. Though
the lack of interfacial diffusion reduces the possibility of
459
intermetallic compounds development at the interface, mixing
of elements in locally melted zones makes the interface prone to
formation of intermetallic compounds. Regarding the small
amount of these compounds, X-ray diffraction analysis is not a
reliable method to investigate the existence of intermetallics in
locally melted regions. As it is proposed by Crossland [11], the
alternative method is analyzing the chemical composition across
and along the locally melted zones. Any sharp change in chemical
composition over these regions can be interpreted as a potential
intermetallic compound. The EDS analysis was utilized to apply
this method to 10 different locally melted areas along the inter-
face of samples no. 4 and no. 5. Fig. 10 depicts the obtained results
for one of these regions in sample no. 4. In all analyzed zones, no
sharp alternation in chemical composition is detectable, and no
sign of intermetallic compound formation is found.
3.3. Interfacial localization of plastic strain
In high strain rate deformations like explosive deformation,
the heat generated by plastic work dissipation cannot be dis-
tributed uniformly due to the lack of distribution time. Such an
adiabatic phenomenon escalates temperature of material locally
rather than uniformly. Therefore, regarding the facilitative effect
of thermal softening phenomenon on plastic deformation
mechanism, the plastic strain of these fine adiabatic local sites
possessing higher temperatures increases relative to other loca-
tions, and homogeneous strain will be disturbed in the form of
460 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464
Fig. 10. Chemical analysis across and along the locally melted zone at the interface of sample no. 4.
thermomechanical instability [17,19–22]. Also, increasing the
average strain and flow stress values will heighten this instability
within the material flow [17,23]. By raising this thermomechani-
cal instability above a critical criterion, the plastic deformation
will concentrate on local adiabatic sites called adiabatic shear
bands (ASB) rather than the whole material [17,22]. Moreover, it
is shown that the critical condition for shifting the homogeneous
strain towards plastic strain localization is dependent on inherent
characteristics of materials, where a higher value of static shear
strength and work hardening modulus is accompanied by higher
critical flow stress values for yielding plastic strain localization
[17]. Also, adiabatic shear bands appearing as narrow dark-etched
or light-etched bands within microstructure of materials are
known as a primary sign of plastic strain localization [24].
The microstructure of Inconel 625 within the explosive cladding
samples no. 1 to no. 5 is illustrated in Fig. 11a–e respectively. These
images show non-existence of ASB as a sign of localized plastic
deformation, and only a uniform distribution of refined grains can
be detected near the interface. In other words, during explosive
cladding, the increase of impact energy up to 266.21 KJ used in
sample no. 5 as the most severe collision condition cannot yield the
critical criteria due to insufficient intensification of thermomecha-
nical instability. Thus, the applied explosive cladding parameters are
not able to reach the critical condition for shifting the homogeneous
deformation of Inconel 625 towards strain localization.
Contrary to Inconel 625, it is observed that increasing the
impact energy of the cladding process promotes the initiation of
plastic strain localization. As Fig. 12a and b demonstrates the
microstructure of steel in samples no. 1 and no. 2 respectively, up
to impact energy of 101.75 KJ only a homogenous deformation
mainly consisting of grain elongation can be detected near the
interface, and the applied impact energies cannot shift the
homogeneous deformation towards plastic strain localization.
By further increasing the impact energy to 148.73 KJ, the dark-
etched adiabatic shear bands appear in microstructure of steel side
(Fig. 12c), hinting at localization of plastic deformation. As it is seen,
the observed ASBs are usually located parallel or at an oblique angle
to the weld line. Fig. 12f shows a close view of the evolved adiabatic
shear bands, where the severe elongation of grains can be seen within
these bands as a main characteristic of ASBs [25]. The microstructure
of steel in samples no. 4 and no. 5 shown in Fig. 12d and e implies the
similar localized deformation. Therefore, it can be concluded that
increasing the load ratio and standoff distance can shift the homo-
geneous deformation of steel towards plastic strain localization
during explosive cladding. The relative resistance of Inconel 625
against localization of strain can be ascribed to its intrinsic mechan-
ical properties such as high static shear strength defining a high
critical flow stress for localization of strain in Inconel 625 [17,22].
Moreover, through close observation of ASBs, the existence of
the development of microcracks within these bands is revealed
(Fig. 13). The reason for this phenomenon can be found in
escalated temperature of adiabatic shear bands. This high tem-
perature reduces the strength of material within adiabatic shear
bands, and consequently promotes initiation of microvoids and
microcracks by reflected tension waves [24,26].
3.4. Interfacial hardness distribution
Fig. 14 illustrates the distribution of hardness across the
interface of five studying samples. The average hardness of
 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464 461

Fig. 11. The microstructure of Inconel 625 plate after explosive cladding, (a) sample no. 1 (load ratio of 1, standoff distance of 4 mm), (b) sample no. 2 (load ratio of 2,
standoff distance of 2 mm), (C) sample no. 3 (load ratio of 2, standoff distance of 4 mm), (d) sample no. 4 (load ratio of 3, standoff distance of 2 mm) and (e) sample no. 5
(load ratio of 3, standoff distance of 4 mm). The dashed rectangles indicate the strain induced grain refinement near the interface.

Fig. 12. Non-existence of adiabatic shear bands at the interface of samples no. 1 (a) and no. 2 (b). Adiabatic shear bands at the interface of samples no. 3 (c), no. 4 (d) and
no. 5 (e). (f) Severe elongation of grains in formed adiabatic shear bands in the vicinity of interface.
462 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464
Fig. 13. Several pictures depicting the development of microcracks through the adiabatic shear bands in steel.
both unwelded materials is shown through the use of dashed
lines. As it is seen, in all samples the hardness of both plates
rises in vicinity of the interface. This interfacial hardening
can be ascribed to an impact-induced microstructure with
refined grains and high density of dislocations and subgrains
[27,28].
A deep study of the results of hardness reveals some differ-
ences in hardening behavior of steel and Inconel 625. In the
Inconel side of the welded plates, by increasing the impact
energy, the interfacial hardness slightly escalates. This
phenomenon can be attributed to the intensification of the
homogenous plastic strain in Inconel 625. However, in steel side,
the hardening of samples fabricated by lower impact energies is
more significant than the other samples (Fig. 14). The reason for
this difference can be found in the localization of plastic strain at
the interface of samples welded by high impact energy. As it was
discussed in the previous section, in these samples, the plastic
deformation mechanism of steel in the vicinity of interface is no
longer homogenous, and the occurrence of strain only in
small adiabatic shear bands leaves the rest of the steel unde-
formed. Therefore, such a localized plastic deformation cannot
affect the penetration depth of indenter as much as homogenous
deformation does.
3.5. Interfacial adhesion strength
Fig. 15 illustrates the outcomes of shear tests for various
studying samples. As it is seen, the shear strength of explosive
cladded bimetal plate possesses an optimum value against alter-
ing the utilized impact energy. By increasing the impact energy,
the shear strength reaches its maximum value in sample no. 2,
and by further escalation of impact energy this value drops. This
observation contradicts the conventional belief of having higher
adhesion strength in explosive welded plates fabricated by higher
impact energies [8,11]. The X-ray diffraction analysis of all
fractured surfaces reveals the existence of steel as a dominant
material on the fracture surface. Fig. 16 depicts this analysis for
fracture surface of sample no. 4 as an example. Non-existence of
Inconel 625 on the fracture surfaces makes sure that fracture path
lies in the steel side rather than interface or within Inconel side.
Therefore, it can be concluded that in all fabricated welds the
interface is stronger than steel, and the reason for the observed
trend of changes in shear strength versus impact energy can be
found in mechanical behavior of steel.
In sample no. 1, the obtained shear strength is close to the
reported shear strength of low carbon steel (220 MPa) [29].
By increasing the impact energy in sample no. 2, the shear strength
 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464
Fig. 14. Hardness profiles across the interface of all fabricated samples.
Fig. 15. Shear strength of all fabricated samples.
Fig. 16. X-ray diffraction analysis of fractured surface in sample no. 4.
goes above the shear strength of unwelded low carbon steel. This
increase can be related to significant work hardening of steel in the
vicinity of interface due to severe applied impact. The hardening
effect enhances the shear and tensile strength of plain carbon steel
[29]. According to this fact, it is expected that higher impact
energies improve the shear strength in the rest of the samples.
However, a significant drop can be seen in samples no. 3, no. 4 and
463
no. 5. This deterioration can be ascribed to the existing microcracks
in adiabatic shear bands in these samples (Fig. 13). By applying the
shear stress, these cracks can propagate, assemble and tear the
steel adjacent to the interface. Therefore, the detrimental role of
strain localization in adhesion strength of fabricated explosive
cladded bimetals suggest controlling the impact energy through
welding parameters to avoid localization of deformation through
explosive welding.
4. Conclusion
The present study suggests the dependency of metallurgical
and mechanical interfacial characteristics of explosive cladded
Inconel 625/plain carbon steel bimetal plates on explosive weld-
ing parameters. It is seen that the interfacial structure is mostly
linear at low impact energies, and increasing the impact energy
through raising load ratio and standoff distance shifts this
structure to a wavy interface. This wavy structure will be spoiled
locally at excessive impact energies.
According to the obtained results, by escalating the load ratio
and standoff distance, the locally melted zones appear at the
interface. These areas are located in the Inconel side, and high
impact energies promote their continuity. Moreover, it is
observed that chemical elements of the two materials mix
together within these locally melted zones, but no evidence of
intermetallic compounds formation is found.
Furthermore, the outcomes indicate that increasing the impact
energy shifts the homogenous plastic strain in steel to localization
of plastic deformation. As results show, this localization is
accompanied by the formation of microcracks within the adia-
batic shear bands. On the other hand, the utilized range of impact
energy cannot initiate the localization of plastic strain in Inconel
625 side.
464 H.R. Zareie Rajani, S.A.A. Akbari Mousavi / Materials Science & Engineering A 556 (2012) 454–464
Also, microhardness profiles across the interface show that
raising the impact energy heightens the work hardening of
materials adjacent to the interface. It is shown that this hardening
is not significant on the steel side of samples in which strain
localization occurs.
Moreover, the outcomes suggest that adhesion strength pos-
sesses an optimum value against alternation of impact energy. By
raising the load ratio and standoff distance, the shear strength
starts to improve, but occurrence of microcracks issuing from
strain localization of steel at excessive impact energies drops the
shear strength significantly.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge and extend their
heartfelt gratitude to Nicole Kurtz who has made the completion
of this paper possible.
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