Experimental investigation on explosive welded joints for shipbuilding applications

Nowadays dissimilar metals can be joint by means of the explosion welding technique, which can be used in the naval field giving a good compromise between weldability and mechanical properties. In the present study, the mechanical behavior of a commercial bar for shipbuilding applications was investigated. The bar is made of ASTM A516 structural steel, clad by explosion welding with AA5086 aluminum alloy and provided with an intermediate layer of pure aluminum. Two full-field techniques were applied during the bending tests: Digital Image Correlation and Infrared Thermography. The Digital Image Correlation technique allowed the analysis of the displacement and strain patterns of the different metals, and Infrared Thermography was used to detect the superficial temperature of the specimen. Micro-hardness tests were also performed in order to evaluate the properties of the transition zones.