| Abstract |
In many of today’s geothermal environments, high pressures, high temperatures and significant corrosion are unavoidable. These factors are driving engineering material selection for many components, including piping and pressure vessels, to higher alloys of stainless steel, nickel based alloys and titanium. The costs of these materials can be significant in the scope of any geothermal project. Explosion welded clad metal offers a number of interesting and unique advantages over solid material. Economics is one of the key benefits. With a relatively thin layer of the higher cost corrosion resistant alloy being clad to a lower cost carbon or alloy steel, the total cost of construction using clad metals is frequently lower than using solid material. Explosion welding creates a metallurgical bond between similar and dissimilar metals. The strength of the weld allows the resulting material to act as one, with the benefits of both materials in the final product. Explosion welding has been used for years in the oil and gas industry, chemical plants, and other industrial applications. This paper will focus on the process of making an explosion weld. It will also include the origins of the process and most recent developments. In addition, it will cover briefly how to fabricate equipment with clad materials. Finally, it will give examples of where explosion welded clad metals are already employed and where they may have application in the field of geothermal energy. One primary focus of this paper is to continue to expand the toolbox of engineers and designers that develop geothermal resources. It is important to have a broad understanding of all the technologies and products that exist in the world with application in the geothermal community. Explosion welding is one technology with broad, but niche based, applications and is useful in many situations like geothermal energy recovery, where high temperature, high pressure, and corrosive environments are typical. |