Explosion Bonding

    The explosion bonding process is based on the impulse from the running detonation of a high explosive accelerating a metal cladding component to a high velocity.  The cladding component, after moving across a standoff gap, collides with a metal base component.  The collision is characterized by the velocity of the cladding component, the angle of collision between the components, and the velocity with which the collision point proceeds along the interface.

When these conditions are within certain limits, as dictated by the materials being bonded, flow and jetting of the colliding surface layers occur and the metals weld together.  The jet is a mixture of the surface layers of the two metals, their oxide coatings, absorbed gases, and other surface contaminants.  Due to the angled collision, this high velocity stream of material (jet) is expelled from the collision zone leaving behind clean, uncontaminated metal surfaces in intimate contact for the metallurgical bond to occur.  When proper welding conditions are employed, the residual heat generated by the process is negligible.