Application possibilities of scanning acoustic microscopy in the assessment of explosive welding

The last two decades have brought stable and impressive development accompanied by the industry acceptance of the use of high energy techniques based on energy obtained from explosive detonation energy. Such manufacturing processes are not only commercially viable, but also allow complex product shapes and unique combinations of metal sheets in terms of materials to be obtained; they enable the creation of composites which cannot be obtained by other conventional methods. Plated sheets are composed of a base material and a thinner plating material layer. An essential aspect in the validation of explosive welding is the quality control of joints made using this technology. The basic control methods are destructive tests – mainly metallographic, which reveal the microstructure at the connection boundary. Non-destructive tests, used in industrial practice, are classical, normalised ultrasonic tests of welding joints, conducted in accordance with ISO 17640:2017 and ISO 11666:2018 standards. Due to the relatively low thickness of the explosion-tested layers (2 mm and 3 mm single layers), which is the object of this study, assessing them using widely available ultrasonic techniques is limited. According to current scientific studies, the application of the scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) is a prospective non-destructive method allowing for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the continuity of the metallic connection on the contact surface of two materials. This paper presents the results of research on the quality of clads, welded explosively using a non-destructive research technique, namely SAM, verified with metallographic tests.