Effect of the Addition of Steel Fibers on the Bonding Interface and Tensile Properties of Explosion-Welded 2A12 Aluminum Alloy and SS-304 Steel

First of all, the explosion-welding method was adopted to prepare steel fiber-reinforced steel-aluminum composite plates. Secondly, the smooth particle hydrodynamic (SPH) method was used to investigate the effect of introducing steel fibers to a vortex region created at the bonding interface of the steel-aluminum composite plate. Thirdly, the following conclusions were drawn through an analysis of the vortex region with the assistance of scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. A brittle intermetallic compound FeAl was produced in the vortex region in an environment characterized by high temperature, high pressure, and high strain rate, resulting in cracks, holes and pores. In addition, the hardness of the vortex area was less than the estimated value, which is mainly because the main element in the vortex area was 2A12 aluminum with low hardness, and there were cracks, holes, pores and other defects that caused hardness reduction. Although the addition of steel fibers caused defects at the bond interface, the addition of steel fibers was effective in improving the tensile resistance performance of steel-aluminum composite panels to a certain extent. In addition, the larger the fiber diameter, the more significant the increase in tensile resistance.