Experimental investigation on residual stress distribution in zirconium/titanium/steel tri-metal explosively welded composite plate after cutting and welding of a cover plate

Abstract To investigate the residual stress distribution in the zirconium/titanium/steel tri-metal explosively welded composite plates after welding a cover plate and cutting with various methods, two specimens made of the composite plate were prepared. The flame cutting method and the abrasive waterjet cutting method were employed to cut the two edges of the specimens. And a cover plate of zirconium was welded to the cladding layer of one specimen with the gas tungsten arc welding method. The contour method was adopted to get the full map of residual stress distribution in the specimens. The stresses induced by the flame cutting and the abrasive waterjet cutting in the composite plate were distinguished and the interfacial stress distributions in the composite plate without and with welding a cover plate were investigated. The result shows that longitudinal tensile stress with a magnitude of about 200 MPa occurs in the titanium/steel interface of the composite plate after welding of zirconium cover plate, and the tensile stress on the steel side reaches the yield strength of steel. After welding the 60 mm-wide cover plate to the composite plate, the stress induced by the welding of one side of the cover plate has almost no effect on that induced by welding of the other side of the cover plate. The flame cutting method can induce large tensile stress in the steel base plate with a magnitude equal to the yield strength of steel and a width up to 22 mm. The water-jet cutting has relatively less influence on the stress at the cutting edge.