Investigation of Explosive Welding of Inconel 718 Super Alloy to AISI H13 Hot Tool Steel

Experimental tests were carried out to explosively clad solution annealed Inconel 718 super alloy on quench-tempered AISI H13 hot tool steel. The tests were carried out using various stand-off distances and explosive ratios. Various interface geometries were obtained from these experiments. In this paper, all the experiments were simulated using ABAQUS version 6.9 finite element software. Experiments were carried out with Ammatol explosive mixture. The integrity of the bond interface was examined by shear test. The micro hardness profiles at the interface for all samples were performed. Metallographic inspections of the bond interfaces were also carried out. Numerical results showed that high localized plastic deformation was produced at the bond interface. The shape of interface fell roughly into two classes, wavy or wavy with some vortex shedding. In some case, a gradual change in wavelength along the direction of welding was observed which was due to a change in impact angle following plate contacts. Hardness was increased at the interface. The increase of hardness near the interface was more pronounced in super alloy than in steel. Shear strength was found to be functions of interface morphology and wave amplitude. Kinetic energy loss could be criteria for transition of interface morphology. Welding window of alloys was also developed.