Investigation of the effects of cold rolling on the mechanical properties of explosively-welded Al/St/Al multilayer sheet

¹ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
e-mail: honarpishe@kashanu.ac.ir
² Jasb Branch, Islamic Azad University, Delijan, Iran

Received: 17 June 2015
Accepted: 7 December 2015

Abstract

In this study, the effects of the cold-rolling process on the microstructure and mechanical properties of explosively-welded Al/St/Al sheet were investigated. In this context, samples were prepared by explosive welding of Al/St/Al sheet and rolled with 4 different thickness reductions. The mechanical properties of the interface were studied by Vickers micro-hardness, shear and tensile strength tests. Investigation of interfacial contact and fracture surfaces was performed by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed that strength and hardness significantly increased by increasing thickness reduction. Also, because of the higher strength of the interface than the Al layer, and according to the standard, the quality of the interface is acceptable. Checking fracture surfaces illustrated that fractures were ductile and, because of existing brittle intermetallic compounds at the interface, under a tensile test, germination and growth of cracks accelerated.