JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES RESEARCH

Copyright © 2014, American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information publisher
JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCES RESEARCH
JOURNAL home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/JASR.
2014 May; 10(5): pages 523-527.
Published Online 2 2 June 2014.
Research Article
Finite-element simulation of explosive welding process by ansys software and UT
process
Ali Moarrefzadeh
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Mechanics, Mahshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr, Iran.
Received: 15 April 2014; Revised: 2 0 May, 2014; Accepted: 25 May 2014
© 2014
AENSI PUBLISHER All rights reserved
ABSTRACT
The origins of explosion welding go back to World War II, when it was observed that pieces of shrapnel were not only embedded
into armor plating but also being clad, or welded, to the metal. Since there was none of the extreme heat involved in other forms of
welding, it was determined that the weld was caused by the explosive forces. Explosive welding is a process which uses explosive
detonation to propel the flyer plate material into the base material to produce a sound joint. The factors which cause localized heat gain
and control the process. The approach to model metal surfaces is an example of a problem dealing with the influence of the finite element
method has been used. AUTODYNE purpose of the program is that the dynamic model is used ANSYS software. In the second part, the
first part is actually complementary. In this study, all the experiments carried out were simulated using the finite element method. The
Williamsburg equations of state were used to describe the behavior of explosive. The Williamsburg equations of state have been
previously developed for low explosive mixture. These equations were coded into the FEM software. This paper describes work carried
out to numerically analyze a two plate welding process using a finite element method (FEM) and the verification of the results using
experimental data.
Key words: Explosive Welding, UT, Numerical Simulation, Optimization, metal, Ansys
INTRODUCTION
The explosion welding process begins with only
the highest-quality materials from the most reputable
manufacturers around the world, that meet our
clients’ expectations and our own exacting
specifications. Let’s look at the explosion welding of
two plates as an example. When two plates are being
clad, the mating surfaces of both metals (the surfaces
facing each other) are ground flat to achieve a
smooth finish and prepare the surfaces for the
explosion.
The plates are then ready to be assembled into
the pack, which locks the plates into position. To
build a pack, the base metal, which is the stronger
and thicker of the plates, is laid face up. Then the
cladding metal, which is the thinner of the two plates,
is placed on top. A small gap is left between the base
metal and cladding metal.
Next, explosive powder is evenly spread on the
cladding (alloy) plate. The amount and exact
formulation of the powder are always matched to the
types of metal involved.
The explosion is detonated from one edge of the
cladding plate and moves across the top of the pack
at a uniform speed, which results in a high-pressure
collision of the metals. Oxides and impurities are
expelled, leaving the plate surfaces metallurgically
pure and creating a metallurgical weld between the
two metals.
After this process is performed, the newly
formed clad is flattened out by a press or, for thinner
clad, a series of rollers known as levelers(fig.1).
Corresponding Author: Ali Moarrefzadeh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Mechanics, Mahshahr
Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr, Iran.
E-mail: [email protected]
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Ali Moarrefzadeh, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 523-527
Fig. 1: Explosion welding (EXW) process
General Specifications:
Experimental tests have been performed to
explosively welded aluminum 5056, aluminum 1015
and stainless steel 304 tubes in one step. The welded
tubes had an external diameter of 135mm and
internal diameter of 113mm. The outer layer was
made of 304-stainless steel, with the external
diameter of 135 and thickness of 4.5mm. The middle
tube was made of Al-1015 and its thickness was
1.5mm. The inner tube was made of Al-5056 with
5mm thickness.
The tests have been carried out using various
stand-off distances and explosive ratios. Various
interface geometries have been obtained from these
Basic Principles of Ultrasonic Testing:
In the explosive welding process, the metal
plates are made to collide obliquely with each other
at a high velocity with the use of explosive. The
impact causes the two metals to come into intimate
contact such that metallurgical bonding takes place
across the interface. As the detonation of the
explosive proceeds, a scavenging action occurs
experiments. The explosive material was positioned
inside the inner tube.
In this study, all the experiments were simulated
using the finite element method. The Williamsburg
equations of state were used to describe the behavior
of explosive. The Williamsburg equations of state
have been previously developed for low explosive
mixture10
These equations were coded into the FEM
software. The Johnson-Cook constitutive equations
were used to model the behavior of tubes. The
Johnson-Cook equations were described as:
  ( A  B n )(1  C ln  p )(1  Tm )
between the two mating surfaces, due to jetting. The
jet formation aids metallurgical bonding in two ways:
first, it causes the breakup of the contaminant
surface film and expels it from the point of collision
and it exposes virgin surfaces, which are brought
into close contact as a result of collision.
Ultrasonic Testing method:
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Ali Moarrefzadeh, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 523-527
Ultrasonic Testing (UT) uses high frequency
sound energy to conduct examinations and make
measurements. Ultrasonic inspection can be used for
flaw
detection/evaluation,
dimensional
measurements, material characterization, and more.
To illustrate the general inspection principle, a
typical pulse/echo inspection configuration as
illustrated below will be used.
A typical UT inspection system consists of
several functional units, such as the pulser/receiver,
transducer, and display devices. A pulser/receiver is
an electronic device that can produce high voltage
electrical pulses. Driven by the pulser, the transducer
generates high frequency ultrasonic energy. The
sound energy is introduced and propagates through
the materials in the form of waves. When there is a
discontinuity (such as a crack) in the wave path, part
of the energy will be reflected back from the flaw
surface. The reflected wave signal is transformed
into an electrical signal by the transducer and is
displayed on a screen. In the applet below, the
reflected signal strength is displayed versus the time
from signal generation to when a echo was received.
Signal travel time can be directly related to the
distance that the signal traveled. From the signal,
information about the reflector location, size,
orientation and other features can sometimes be
gained.
Manual ultrasonic weld inspections are
performed using a single probe, which the operator
“rasters” back and forth to cover the weld area. Many
automated weld inspection systems use a similar
approach (see Figure 2a), with a single probe
scanned back and forth over the weld area. This is
time consuming, since the system has dead zones at
the start and finish of the raster.
Fig. 2: Scanninig in ultrasonic testing process

Ultrasonic Inspection is a very useful and
versatile NDT method. Some of the advantages of
ultrasonic inspection that are often cited include:

It is sensitive to both surface and subsurface
discontinuities.
Result And Discussions
Hydraulic turbulence phenomena appear in a
large variety of industrial pipe flows. They introduce
some
errors in the ultrasonic flowmeter measurements.
In this study, we have described a numerical
procedure toquantify the transit-time flowmeter
uncertainties causedby the deviation of the acoustical


The depth of penetration for flaw detection or
measurement is superior to other NDT methods.
Only single-sided access is needed when the
pulse-echo technique is used.
It is highly accurate in determining reflector
position and estimating size and shape.
paths from the straightlines. In our simplified
configuration, we have foundthat the flow rate is
overestimed of 0.35% due to theeffects of the mean
velocity profile, and that the meanthermal field has a
negligible influence.
In the second part, the first part is actually
complementary. Ways to try to generate heat and
increase the impact of the collision and impact force
and the results of the survey analysis software
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Ali Moarrefzadeh, 2014 /Journal Of Applied Sciences Research 10(5), May, Pages: 523-527
environment used to increase weld quality and
productivity. Finally, optimal results in terms of
mechanical and metallurgical weld ultrasonic testing
method for controlling the size and quality of weld to
be examined.
Ultrasonic A-scan examination was found to be
very precise in detecting the presence of
delamination in the weld joints. This has also been
imaged and confirmed using C-scan technique(fig.
3).
Fig. 3: result of C-scan
Conclusion:
The simulations showed that the temperature at
the collision point was not reached to the material
melting point. But, it was high enough for phase
transformation to occur. Therefore, this study
supports the idea that the explosive welding process
is a solid state process.
This study suggests that the minimum plastic
strain may be required to bonding take place.
The results showed that the shear strain profiles
at the surfaces of the tubes bonded had opposite sign
at the collision points.
Acknowledgments
This paper was extracted from a research project
entitled Study of weld quality in explosive welding
process by finite-element method and ultrasonic
testing. financial assistance from Islamic Azad
University, Mahshahr Branch is gratefully
acknowledged.
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