Explosive Clad Tubeplates

Details

Materials

Procedure and Testing

Drilling

Details

Clad plates can be produced by hot rolling, explosive bonding or weld overlaying. Cladding is used for both economic reasons and to take advantage of the higher strength of the steel base to withstand heavy loads or high pressure. Generally up to a wall thickness of 10mm solid plate is used.

Explosive cladding produces a continuous metalised bond with the characteristic of each material maintained. It is used for heat exchanger tubesheets, covers and shells and can be supplied to other industries e.g. for current rails, electrical contacts, welding connectors.

Standard dimensions:

Width: 3000mm
Length: 6000mm
Weight: 20000kg

Materials

Base material - carbon steel, alloy steel, copper, copper alloys, nickel, nickel alloys, titanium, aluminium, aluminium alloys.
Clad material - high alloy steel, nickel, nickel alloys, titanium, copper, copper alloys, aluminium, aluminium alloys.

Many other combinations are possible. Contact us with your requirements.

Procedure and Testing

A procedure is normally agreed with the client - typical procedure and testing include:

Inspection of the raw materials.
Cutting the materials to the dimensions required for bonding.
Welding the cladding.
Preparation of the surfaces to be bonded - sand blasting, polishing, cleaning.
Inspection of the material before explosive bonding.
Arrangement of plates.
Bonding.
Examination of the plates after bonding.
Heat treament.
Flattening - generally to 1.5mm/1 metre and 2mm/overall dimension.
Ultrasonic examination - generally per ASME SA578/SA578M level 1, S7 (level C).
Test on mechanical properties generally performed on one coupon taken from the cladded material based on ASME SA-265 including shear strength test, tensile test and bend test with cladding in tension and in compression.
Cutting to final dimensions.
Cleaning - sand blasting or mechanical cleaning.
Inspection - by in house quality and third party inspection by major authorities is regularly performed.
Marking.
Packing.
Certification.

Drilling

We can also offer the tubeplates machined and drilled - please supply details of tube hole size, pitch and specification requirements. A sketch or drawing would be appreciated.