Experimental Investigation of Explosive/impact Welding-Experiments with a Gas Gun

This paper describesan experimentalstudy of impactwelding using a gas gun. Thestudy was part of a more comprehensiveprogrammeto model the process of explosive welding.The gun enabled similar impactconditionsto those in explosiveweldingto be realisedmore economicallyand more quicklytherebyallowinga wider rangeof impactangles and velocitiesto be tested. Small flyer plates (40 x 40 x 3mm) of copper,titanium, stainless steel and zirconium were welded to mild steel by firing them at inclined targets at speeds of up to 10000/s. The tests were used to construct a welding window of impact velocity versus impact angle for stainless steel to steel and titanium to steel. Visual inspection of sections of the weld showed the same types of wavy interface as observed in explosive welding of the same materials. The data collected was used to validate a computer simulation of the impacting plates