Maksim A. Esikov

Peculiarities of Weld Seams and Adjacent Zones Structures Formed in Process of Explosive Welding of Sheet Steel Plates

The structure and mechanical properties of the laminates produced by explosive welding of low carbon steel were investigated. The maximum number of layers in the composites was 21. It was shown that the structure of the composite is not uniform across the thickness of the layers and along the boundaries in the shape of the wave. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the sizes of the grain-subgrain clusters forming in the weld adjacent zones are about 100…400 nm. The maximum temperature was reached in the areas of the vortices. High-strength martensite was formed in these zones in the process of cooling. The strength properties and toughness of the com-posite is almost 2 times higher compared with the properties of the original plates. It was shown that the boundaries of welds are the barriers inhibiting the development of fatigue cracks.

Structure and Microhardness of Cu-Ta Joints Produced by Explosive Welding

The structure and microhardness of Cu-Ta joints produced by explosive welding were studied. It was found that, during explosive welding, an intermediate layer 20⋯40 μm thick with a finely dispersed heterophase structure, formed between the welded copper and tantalum plates. The structure of the layer was studied by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Microvolumes with tantalum particles distributed in a copper matrix and microvolumes of copper particles in a tantalum matrix were detected. The tantalum particles in copper have a size of 5⋯500 nm, with a predominance of 5⋯50 nm particles. A mechanism for the formation of the finely dispersed heterophase structure in explosive welding is proposed. The microhardness of interlayers with the heterophase structure reaches 280 HV, which far exceeds the microhardness of copper (~130 HV) and tantalum (~160 HV). Many twins of deformation origin were found in the structure of the copper plate. The effect of heating temperature in the range from 100 to 900°C on the microhardness of copper, tantalum, and the Cu-Ta welded joint was studied. Upon heating to 900°C, the microhardness of the intermediate layer decreases from 280 to 150 HV. The reduction in the strength properties of the weld material is mainly due to structural transformations in copper.

The Effect of Heat Treatment on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Multilayered Composites Welded by Explosion

The structure of composites formed by explosive welding of thin sheets of tool and austenitic steels was studied by structural analysis methods. It is shown that the quenching and tempering of composites leads to the formation of complicated structure containing, along with layers of dissimilar steels, layers with new chemical compositions. Due to the structural changes there is an 2-fold increasing of impact toughness.

Formation and structure of vortex zones in explosive welding of carbon steel

The structure of vortex zones formed by explosive welding of thin sheets of steel 20 was studied by structural analysis methods. It is shown that the main structural components of the vortices are fine-grained ferrite and martensite. The peripheral regions of the vortex zones are adjacent to layers of recrystallized ferrite with submicron-size grains. The presence of uniaxial dendrites suggests that, during explosive loading, the central region of many vortices were in a molten state. Intense mixing of the material in the vortex zones is responsible for the formation of voids, which account for 20 percent of the melt volume.

Structural Transformations Occurring upon Explosive Welding of Alloy Steel and High-Strength Titanium

Features of the structure of a layered material welded by explosion of high-strength titanium alloy and tool roller steel with an intermediate layer of the structural low-carbon steel have been studied. The structural transformations occurring in materials upon their dynamic interaction have been analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the structure of vortex zones formed at the interfaces of billets of various steels, as well as structural steel and titanium-based alloy. The structural analysis methods made it possible to fix stable and metastable joints appearing upon the explosive welding of various metals. To reveal features of structural transformations caused by prolonged heating, billets of titanium alloy and structural steel were also joined by diffusion welding. It has been shown that, in the course of the diffusion welding process, a continuous layer of stable brittle intermetallic compounds is formed along the entire interface of the welded materials. In the explosively welded materials, the intermetallic phases are distributed locally and, thus, they have a weaker embrittlement effect.

The Effect of Preliminary Mechanical Activation on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Ni3Al+B Material Obtained by SPS

In the present study, a mixture of powders (87.9 at.% Ni, 12 at.% Al, 0.1 at.% B) was used as the initial material to produce sintered Ni3Al + B alloy. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) method was used to compact the powder. The powder mixtures were previously prepared in two ways: mixing the initial powders in a mortar (М1) and mechanical activation (М2). The microstructure was observed using optical microscope (OM). The addition of small amount of boron to the initial mixture of nickel and aluminum improves the density of the sintered Ni3Al intermetallic compound (98.8%). The results of density, bending and microhardness tests showed, that the provisional three-minute mechanical activation improves almost all properties of the sintered material. The compact obtained by SPS by M2 contributes to the formation of a homogeneous fine-grained structure of the material. It leads to further increase in flexural bending strength up to 2200 MPa. This value is almost 8 times the strength of the intermetallic Ni3Al stoichiometric composition obtained by SPS.