Evaluation of Explosive Bonding for Patching Aluminum with Aluminum.
Abstract
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains many waterborne vehicles and floating devices that are made of aluminum. Repair of these items usually involves gas metal arc welding a patch over the damaged area. However, the arc welding process is difficult to learn and is not well suited to use in the field. For these reasons, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (USA-CERL) has explored an alternative repair method explosive bond welding. Weld techniques using explosives are fairly well established, although most work in this area has involved the bonding of dissimilar metals. USA-CERL investigated the feasibility of welding aluminum to aluminum using explosive bonding. Prerequisites for such a welding system are: must provide a single repair material compatible with both 5456 and 6061 aluminum alloys commonly used in the items; must be safe and portable for use in the field; must require a minimum amount of explosives; the explosives(s) must already be in the Army inventory (and thus meet safety standards); and must include internal support or backups required for the wall thicknesses to be repaired.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA193303
Entities
People
- Robert A. Weber
- Vonne Linsey
Organizations
- Construction Engineering Research Laboratory