Paul,

Several months ago I spoke with Jose Olivas of Dynamic Materials Corp.,

(used to be Explosive Fabricators, I believe), They have an office near
Boulder, CO.

I described to him what the group was trying to do in regards to the

middle and end plates.

He was quite receptive,  however he and his boss both stated that the

metal cladding of alum with steel won't work unless it is done with a solid
billet to

begin with due to the stresses incurred during the explosive process.

If done with a casting there would be deformation and cracking.  Also, they
indicated

that the process is quite expensive unless prorated over a large

quantity due to setup time, etc.

The process is now done at their other plants.  It was interesting to

see them do it when they were doing it here locally, however.  It is done in
a shallow

swimming pool.  The material is set up on props/stands in the water -

makes a heck of a noise, the office building shakes, and water goes
everywhere.

Imagine 6 or 7 of those a day.

For the middle piece I think the process might work if it were done on a

billet, and then milled.  Still sounds too expensive.  I will send the
literature to

you shortly for your evaluation.

His Ph No. is 1-303-604-3910, and e-mail at

jolivas@dynamicmaterials.com.

Regards,
Joe Graham

Yes I agree with the solid billet part. I was not suggesting doing it to a

casting

directly. Once the steel is clad with the aluminum the aluminum part can

be

furnace brazed to the aluminum end housing or the rotor housing.

BTW the big advantage of this over the two piece end housing is heat

transfer.

Since there is a molecular bond between the dissimilar metals the heat

transfer

from the steel to the aluminum is as good as it is going to get.

I'll be focusing on the Mazda end housings.

Paul Lamar

Paul,
Will the bond hold with the heat cycling?
George (down under)

Sure. The end housing run a maximum of 500 degrees  F worst case.
Probably more like 350 degrees F. If differential expansion was a real
problem we would have problems with the stock steel liners in the aluminum
rotor housings. They do indeed run at 500 F or more.

Paul Lamar
 
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