An investigation on microstructures and mechanical properties of explosive cladded C103 niobium alloy over C263 nimonic alloy

The present work aims at studying structure-property correlations in an explosive weld of C103 niobium alloy and C263 nimonic alloy. Explosive welding was carried out taking both the materials in solution-annealed condition. Microstructural studies were carried out to evaluate the integrity of weld joint. Mechanical properties such as shear strength of weld interface was found to be superior and ram tensile strength was observed to be marginally inferior compared to the strength of weaker component of the weld joint. The micro-hardness was observed to be high at the bond interface on C263 nimonic alloy side. The three point bend tests were conducted on the weld joint in such a way that the cladding was subjected to tension, which has not shown any cracks at the interface.