Explosive welding of aluminum to aluminum: analysis, computations and experiments

6061 T0 aluminum alloy was joined to 6061 T0 aluminum alloy by explosive welding. This is a process in which the controlled energy of a detonating explosive is used to create a metallic bond between two similar or dissimilar materials. The welding conditions were tailored to produce both wavy and straight interfaces. A three-pronged study was used to establish the conditions for straight weld formation: (a) analytical calculation of the domain of weldability, in which the Szecket–Mayseless (Mater. Sci. Eng. 57 (1983) 149) criterion was successfully used; (b) characterization of the explosive welding experiments carried out under different conditions, and (c) 2D finite differences simulation of these tests using the explicit Eulerian hydrocode Raven with a Johnson–Cook constitutive equation for the Al alloy. The numerical simulation and the analytical calculations confirm the experimental results and explain the difficulties met for obtaining a continuous straight interface along the entire weld.