Roy Hardwick, F.Weld.I., C. Eng.
Vice-President, Technology

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

 

WORK HISTORY

 

 

 

YORKSHIRE IMPERIAL METALS LTD. 1948 -1979

 

Served 3 years as apprentice metallurgist, working primarily as analytical chemist. From 1951-53 served 2 years National Service in the RAF as a photographer returning to YIM to take up the post of metallographer serving in this capacity until 1963. Developed the initial work of Prof. Johnson (UMIST) on the explosive expansion of tubes into the primary production route for manufacturing large diameter non-ferrous tubes.

 

 

In 1965, invented the YIMPACT process of explosive bonding of tube/tubeplate joints and developed this to a viable commercial process. In 1970, was appointed Technical Manager of the newly formed YIMPACT Dept., which was set up to commercialize this process. This business continues to the present day as the only commercial process for explosion bonding tube/tubeplate joints.

 

 

In 1971, took out a second major patent for the explosive plugging of leaking heat exchanger joints. This resulted in the commercial exploitation of a process used exclusively by the CEGB and remains as the leading process and emergency breakdown service used by the current electrical utilities for repair of high pressure feed water heat exchangers.

 

 

Received various awards over this period of employment, including:  

  • Silver/Gilt Medal at the International Inventors Exhibition, Brussels, 1971.

  • Certificate for best paper to be presented to the Institute of Certificated Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in that year, 1974.

  • Fellow of the Welding Institute on proposal by Sir Bernard Crossland and Prof. A. Bahrani, 1976.

 

 

 

EXPLOSIVE FABRICATORS INC. COLORADO U.S.A. 1979 - 1985

 

 

Following the international industry exposure over the period of employment at YIM, in 1979 was invited by EFI to join the company as Manager of New Product Development. This company’s primary product was clad plate and explosively formed products. Was promoted  to Vice President of Technology in 1980 as a result of significant revisions made to the existing technology of the industry.

 

Served as Consultant to Rocketdyne on the redesign and fabrication of transition joints incorporated in the heat exchanger converting liquid to gaseous fuel for injection to the shuttle main engines.

 

 

Served as Consultant to Ponderosa Associates Louisville Colorado acting on their behalf in investigation of accidental explosions and appearing as expert witness in associated court cases.

 

Further patents were pursued and papers presented, including papers presented at the NASA Langley Laboratories Research Unit. Invited to the Organising Committee and acted as session chairman and paper referee at the HERF Conference held in San Antonio Texas.

 

The most significant advances over the period were:

  • Proposal of new bonding theory associating metal combination compatibility with atomic spacing differential and yield strengths of the  materials. This work resulted in the successful cladding of metal combinations that were previously deemed to be incompatible. Amongst the metal combinations now capable of being clad to steel were high strength titanium and titanium alloys and zirconium. Previously these clads could only be made in two stage operations incorporating interlayers.

  • Cladding of extended length tubular components of up to 8 metres on a commercial scale, including the first commercial production of a single-shot multi-laminate tubular composite of aluminium to steel with a titanium interlayer.

  • Production of numerous miniature tubular components for use as transition joints to be incorporated in NASA projects including the Space Shuttle Program.

  • Invention of a new system of continuous initiation, now known as line initiation, which allowed clads of unlimited length to be fabricated, length being restricted only by the practical considerations of handling the large component parts.

  • Production of titanium and zirconium clad steel ingots for subsequent hot rolling to extended areas.

  • Patenting of a process of explosive bonding of tubular clad components that are incorporated into steel outer billets and co-extruded to form extended tubular clad shells. These are conventionally processed by drawing or pilgering to form clad tubes of extended length.

 

 

 

ICI NOBELS EXPLOSIVES CO. LTD. 1985 - 1993

 

Returned to the UK in 1985 to take up the position of Senior Development Engineer of the Metal Cladding Department.

 

 

Was invited as a guest of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1985 and attended the HERF conference at the Lavrentyev Institute, Novosibirsk where the theory of metal combination compatibility relationship to atomic spacing and yield strength was publicly presented for the first time. Was again invited as the Academy’s guest at a further conference in 1988.

 

 

Completed an extended thesis on Explosive Welding, which was submitted and accepted by The Welding Institute for qualification by the mature candidate route as Chartered Engineer. 

 

 

Further patents have been filed and more papers published and are also defined in the appended list. The principal achievements over this period were:  

  • Further development of the above patented process for the bonding of multi-laminate structures of a single material and incorporating pre-defined areas of non-bond at the laminar interfaces. The composite structure is preheated with gas introduced into the laminar cavities to inflate the structure, within a die, to produce a hollow pre-defined shape with an integral inner supporting structure. This product is used for the superplastic forming of aluminium/lithium aircraft components.

  • Development of a method of producing multi-laminate fatigue resistant structures using a high mass detached flyer or driver plate.

  • Proposed a method of heat-treating the above structures to increase the strength of any lower integrity areas of bond to finally produce a homogeneous bond throughout the structure of parent metal strength.

  • Development of a method of attaching steel collars to aluminium drill pipes used in directional drilling and additionally devised a single piece die construction associated with the above process. This die assembly avoided the need for internal shaping of the die and any assembling and dissembling of the die. An extended die life was achieved.

  • Worked as consultant to Rolls Royce and Associates and on their behalf devised a method of remotely sealing a leaking radioactive reactor in a nuclear submarine.  Successfully carried out the sealing of the leak.

  • Proposed a further method of cladding zirconium and high strength titanium alloys to steel using interlayer materials of an intermediate atomic spacing and bonding in a single operation. The method gives greater reproducibility and flexibility than all previous methods.

  • Further developed the method of producing clad pipe by cladding tubular billets, sub-sectioning, extruding, further sub-sectioning of the extruded parts and co-extruding these parts within steel outer billets to form extended tube lengths.  The method gives considerably enhanced commercial viability by further dissipating the costs of the primary explosive cladding process and produces clad pipe of conventional length and accurate dimensions not attainable by direct explosive bonding.

  • Developed a method of cladding materials at temperatures of 300°c and above which are incompatible with explosives and simultaneously capturing the environmentally hazardous products jetted from the interface.

 

 

 

SELF EMPLOYED 1993 to 2001

 

Served as Consultant to several organizations, including: CEM (Australia); Kvearner Chemetics (Canada); Nobelclad (France); Dynamit Nobel and Buss Waeschle (Germany); Explo-Engineering (Slovenia); Dynamic Materials Corp, formerly EFI, and Brown Boveri-Chattanooga (USA); JET, NEC, DERA, Royal Ordnance, Kvearner, Redpath, and BNFL (United Kingdom).

 

 

 

 

 

 

PAPERS PRESENTED AND/OR PUBLISHED  

 

1)    “Explosive Welding of Tube To Tubeplates By The Angular Geometry”, Select Conference On Explosive Welding, London, 1968.

2)    “YIMPACT Welding Of Titanium Tubes To Tubeplates”, IMI Symposium On Titanium, Birmingham,1970.

 

3)    “Heat Exchanger Welding Problems Solved By Explosive Welding”, Petrotech Exhibition And Symposium, Amsterdam, 1970.

4)    “Explosive Welding Solves Tube Joint Problems”, Engineering Production, October 1970.

 

5)    “Explosive Welding Of Titanium Tubes To Tubeplates by the YIMPACT Process”, Conference on High Energy Rate Forming, Denver, 1971.

 

6)    “Tube/Tubeplate Joints By Explosive Welding”, Chemical & Process Engineering, 1971.

7)    “Industrial Processes For The Explosive Welding Of Tube/Tubeplate Joints”, Societe Royale Belge Des Ingenieures, Brussels, 1972.

8)    “YIMPACT Welding”, Dutch Welding Society, Rotterdam, 1972.

9)    “Application Of Explosive Welding To Industrial Heat Exchangers”, International Conference On Use Of High Energy Rate Forming, Leeds, 1973.

10)    “YIMPACT System Of Explosive Welding”, Second International Symposium on the Use Of Explosive Energy In Manufacturing Metallic Materials, Marianske Lazne, Czechoslovakia, 1973.

 

11)    “Application Of Explosive Welding To Heat Exchangers”, French Welding Engineering Society, Paris, 1973.

12)    “Commercial Processes For The Explosive Welding And Plugging Of Heat Exchangers”, Institute Of Certificated Mechanical & Electrical Engineers, Johannesburg, 1974.

 

13)    “Methods For Fabricating And Plugging Tube To Tubesheet Joints by Explosive Welding”, American Welding Journal, April 1975.

14)    “Tube/Tubesheet Joints By Explosive Welding With Particular Reference To The Welding Of Titanium Into Condensers”, Ohio State University, Columbus, 1975.

 

15)    “Factors Influencing The Reduction Of Ligament Thickness When Explosive Welding Tube/Tubesheet Joints”, Welding Institute Seminar on Explosive Welding, London, 1975.

16)    “Explosive Plugging And Factors Which Have Influenced Commercial Viability”, Welding Institute Seminar on Explosive Welding, London, 1975.

17)    “Explosively Welded Tube/Tubeplate Joints And Explosive Plugging”, Welding Institute Leeds Branch, Leeds, 1975.

18)    “Explosively Welded Tube/Tubeplate Joints And Explosive Plugging”, Welding Institute Southern Counties Branch, Southampton, 1975.

 

19)    “Explosively Welded Tube/Tubeplate Joints And Explosive Plugging”, Welding Institute Midlands Branch, Wolverhampton, 1976.

 

20)    “Explosive Welding And Metallurgical Aspects Of The Interface”, Leeds Metallurgical Society, Leeds, 1976.

21)    “Explosive Welding And Plugging”, Leeds Engineering Society, Leeds, 1977.

22)    "Explosive Welding, Plugging And Expansion”, Heat Transfer Society, Manchester, 1978.

23)    “Tube/Tubeplate Welding By Explosives”, British Nuclear Energy Society, London, 1979.

24)    “Explosive Metalworking Technology In Heat Exchanger Construction”, Seventh Ocean Energy Conference, Washington D.C., 1980.

25)    “Explosion Bonded Products With An Insight Into Manufacturing Techniques”, Seventh International Conference On High Energy Rate Fabrication, Leeds, 1981.

26)    “Tube/Tubeplate Joining, Plugging And Other Explosive Techniques Which Can Be Used In The Construction And Repair Of Heat Exchangers”, Eighth International Conference On High Energy Rate Fabrication, San Antonio Texas, 1984.

27)    “A Fabrication Process For The Production Of A Zirconium Bi-metal Tube For Cl2 And H2S Gas Wells”, Eighth International Conference On High Energy Rate Fabrication, San Antonio Texas, 1984.

28)    “Explosive Bonding And Its Applicability To Titanium”, Proceedings of the Conference on Designing With Titanium, Bristol, 1986.

29)    “Some More Recent Advances In Cladding Technology”, Ninth International Conference On High Energy Rate Fabrication, Novosbirsk, USSR, 1986.

30)    “Explosive Metalworking Techniques For The Joining Of Metals In Tubular Laminar And Composite Forms”, Tenth International Conference on High Energy Rate Fabrication, Llubjana, Yugoslavia, 1987.

31)    “Explosive Welding For Metal Joining”, Metals And Materials, October 1987.

32)    “The Use Of Explosives In The Production Of Armour”, ICI Conference On Armour And Protective Materials, Wilton, 1987.

33)    “High Energy Rate Forming”, Sheet Metal Industries, April 1988.

34)    “Recent Developments In Explosive Bonding At Nobels Explosives Company”, IEMA Conference, Glasgow, 1991.

35)    “The Bonding Of Toxic Metals At Elevated Temperatures”, IEMA Conference, Perpignan, France, 1992.

36)    “An Update On The Progress and Status Of Explosive Bonding and Forming Of Aluminium/Lithium Alloys”, Symposium on Diffusion Bonding and Practice, Leeds, 1996.

37)    “Bonding of Stainless to Hard Steel as a Chromium Replacement”, Gorham Conference on Advanced Coating Systems for Gas Turbine and Aircraft Components, San Antonio Texas, 2000.

38)    “Major Breakthroughs In Explosive Bonding Enabling Hot Rolled Titanium Clads And Extruded Pipes To Be Produced And Improved Bonds To Be Made”, Stainless Steel World, February 2001.

39)    “Advances Leading To New Clads Of The Future”, Stainless Steel World Conference, The Hague, Netherlands, November 2001.

 

 

 

PATENTS DEVELOPED

 

 

               UK             USA            Subject

 

1)          1149387  3503110    Explosive Welding Tube/Tubeplate Joints.

2)          1288166                  Explosive Welding Bi-Metal Tube/Tubeplate joints.

3)          1439141                  Sealing Of Leaking Tubes With Explosive Welded plugs.

4)          1439142                  Sealing Of Leaking Tubes With Explosive Welded plugs.

5)          1285511  3719925    Securing Thin Walled Tubes To Bi-Metal Tubeplates.

6)          1355874                  Inserts For Use In Explosive Welding Or Expansion.    

7)          1514491                  Welding Tubes To Small Ligaments By Simultaneous Detonation.

8)          1386969                  Explosive Welding Of A Tube In A Tubeplate.

9)          17512/75                 Plugging leaking Tubes Of Larger Diameters By Explosive Welding.

10)        18446/75                  Sealing Tubular Members By Bulk Compression Of A Resilient Gasket.

             47654/75

11)        47268/75                  Explosive Welding Of Composite Bodies (Honeycomb).

12)        30140/76                  Tube End Repairs By Explosive Welding.

13)        4518111                   Method Of Fabricating A Metal Tube.

14)          Appl.                      Bi-Metal Tubeplate Joints: A Method Of Explosively Bonding Same.

15)          Appl.                      Method Of Continuous Initiation Of Explosive Layers.

16)         2182276   4756464    Method Of Bonding Al/Steel Transition Joints With A Thin Interlayer.

17)         2209982                  Al/Li to Al/Li Bond Enhancement By Heat Treatment To Homogenise And Maximise Bond Strength.

18)         2209978                  Construction Of An Explosive Charge Of Polythene Filled With Water And A Central Explosive 

                                            Charge Used For Explosive Expansion.

19)         220979     4860656    Joining Tubular Members.

20)         2213754                  Bonding Of Multi-Laminate Composites Using A Driver Plate.

21)         2244226                  Clad Tube Produced By Extrusion.

22)         2250940   5242098    Bonding Of Multi-Laminate Structures And Pre-defining Areas Which Are To Remain Unbonded

                                            For Subsequent Superplastic Forming.

23)         5259547                   Clad Tube Produced By Hot Rolling.

24)         5271546                   Cladding Of A Mother Ingot For Roll Bonding To Extended Area, Subdivision And Further Extension 

                                            By Roll Bonding To Size.

25)         6296170                   Method Of Producing Metal Composites Which Can Be Processed At High Temperatures. 

26)        09/718421                 Method Of Explosive Bonding, Composition Therefore and Product Thereof.