MICROSTRUCTURE AND PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS NEAR THE BONDING ZONE OF Al/Cu CLAD MANUFACTURED BY EXPLOSIVE WELDING

The structure near the interface of bimetallic strips strongly influences their properties. In this work, the interfacial layers of explosively welded aluminium and copper plates were investigated by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), equipped with a high resolution system for local orientation measurements (SEMFEG/EBSD), and a transmission electron microscope (TEM), equipped with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDX) for the analysis of chemical composition changes. The SEMFEG/EBSD-based local orientation measurements in the areas close to the interface, in both sheets, revealed fine-grained layers characterized by the clearly marked tendency of the copper-type rolling texture formation. The texture was described by an increased density of the orientations near the {112}< 111 >, {123}< 634 > and {110}< 112 > positions. The internal microstructure of the intermetallic inclusion is mostly composed of dendrites. The electron diffractions and the TEM/EDX chemical composition measurements in the intermetallic inclusions revealed only crystalline phases, both equilibrium and 'metastable'. Additionally, no significant regularity in the phase distribution with respect to the parent sheets was observed.