Metallurgical characterization of an explosion welded aluminum/steel joint

Explosion welding is an effective method to join very dissimilar metals, which in the last years is adopted in many field of transportation industry to obtain a good compromise among the involved materials properties. In this work a commercial bar made of ASTM A516 low carbon steel, dad by explosion welding with A5086 aluminum alloy and provided with an intermediate layer of pure aluminum, has been investigated. Results of metallurgical characterization and mechanical surveys (Vickers microhardness, tensile and FIMEC test) confirmed the bar is suitable for structural applications. Although precipitation of intermetallic compounds and deformation hardening has been observed at the interfaces, the tensile behavior of the whole joint (deformed along the orthogonal direction to the interfaces) maintains characteristics of high ductility.