Cladding process

The explosive cladding process provides several advantages over other metal-bonding processes ... 

Plattierung,/. plating, plate cladding. Plattier-verfahren, n. plating or cladding process. -werkstoff, m. plating or cladding material. 

Metallurgical changes because of the cladding process that may affect the corrosion resistance. 

The development of rapid manufacturing techniques by laser deposition started in the mid-1990s. It started with the blown powder laser cladding process, a technology that was pioneered by Weerasinghe and Steen as a coating process (25). 

This type of coil was prepared from copper cladded printed circuit board material by applying photolithographic techniques. The p.c. board material is available with difierent copper thicknesses and with either a stiff or a flexible carrier. The flexible material offers the opportunity to adapt the planar coil to a curved three dimensional test object. In our turbine blade application this is a major advantage. The thickness of the copper layer was chosen to be 17 pm The period of the coil was 100 pm The coils were patterned by wet etching, A major advantage of this approach is the parallel processing with narrow tolerances, resulting in many identical Eddy current probes. An example of such a probe is shown in fig. 10. 

Vertica.1 Axia.1 Deposition. The vertical axial deposition (VAD) process (18) was developed by a consortium of Japanese cable manufacturers and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT). This process also forms a cylindrical soot form. However, deposition is achieved end-on without use of a mandrel and subsequent formation of a central hole. Both the core and cladding are deposited simultaneously using more than one torch (Fig. 12). 

Blanks can also be made using Vapor Axial Deposition (VAD) (Fig. 21). The process involves simultaneous flame deposition of both core- and cladding-glass soots onto the end (ie, axially) of a rotating fused-siUca target rod. The finished perform is then consoHdated in a process similar to the OVD process. 

Miscellaneous Processes. Metal strip for cladding can be produced by cold pressing metal powder into alow density green strip, foUowed by sintering to compact the powder. AHoy powders can be made into strip, along with specialized strip with one powder bonded to a different powder on the opposite side. 

In 1962, the first method for welding (qv) metals ia spots along a linear path by explosive detonation was patented (8). This method is not, however, used iadustriaHy. In 1963, a theory that explained how and why cladding occurs was pubHshed (9). Research efforts resulted ia process patents which standardized iadustrial explosion cladding. Several of the patents describe the use of variables iavolved ia parallel cladding which is the most popular form of explosion cladding (10—13). Several excellent reviews on metal cladding have been pubHshed (14—16). 

Eabrication techniques must take into account the metallurgical properties of the metals to be joined and the possibiUty of undesirable diffusion at the interface during hot forming, heat treating, and welding. Compatible alloys, ie, those that do not form intermetaUic compounds upon alloying, eg, nickel and nickel alloys (qv), copper and copper alloys (qv), and stainless steel alloys clad to steel, may be treated by the traditional techniques developed for clads produced by other processes. On the other hand, incompatible combinations, eg, titanium, zirconium, or aluminum to steel, require special techniques designed to limit the production at the interface of undesirable intermetaUics which would jeopardize bond ductihty. 

Vessel heads can be made from explosion-bonded clads, either by conventional cold- or by hot-forming techniques. The latter involves thermal exposure and is equivalent in effect to a heat treatment. The backing metal properties, bond continuity, and bond strength are guaranteed to the same specifications as the composite from which the head is formed. AppHcations such as chemical-process vessels and transition joints represent approximately 90% of the industrial use of explosion cladding. 

Chemical-Process Vessels. Explosion-bonded products are used in the manufacture of process equipment for the chemical, petrochemical, and petroleum industries where the corrosion resistance of an expensive metal is combined with the strength and economy of another metal. AppHcations include explosion cladding of titanium tubesheet to Monel, hot fabrication of an explosion clad to form an elbow for pipes in nuclear power plants, and explosion cladding titanium and steel for use in a vessel intended for terephthaHc acid manufacture. 

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