Production of ship steel—titanium bimetallic composites through explosive cladding

Titanium was combined with ship steel sheet through the explosive cladding technique using different explosive ratios. The effects of the explosive ratio on the microstructure, mechanical and corrosion properties of the ship steel-titanium bimetallic composites were investigated. The microstructural characterization of the bimetallic composites was studied by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The mechanical properties were determined through tensile-shear, impact toughness, bending, twisting and microhardness testing, while the corrosion behaviour was examined using neutral salt spray (NSS) tests. The microstructure studies revealed that a wavy joining interface was attained at higher explosive ratios, while a completely smooth interface was achieved at the lowest explosive ratio. In the microhardness tests, the highest hardness values were attained from both sides of the joining interface. Conclusions of the mechanical tests separation did not occur in the interfaces of the bimetallic composite specimens. In the corrosion test, the titanium was found to have higher corrosion resistance than the ship steel sheet. It was concluded that the mechanical and corrosion properties of the ship steel sheet can be enhanced by explosive cladding with titanium.