cladding

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An old jewelry art, now employed on an industrial scale to add the desirable surface properties of an expensive metal to a low-cost or strong base metal. In the process a clad metal sheet is made by bonding or welding a thick facing to a slab of base metal; the composite plate is then rolled to the desired thickness. The relative thickness of the layers does not change during rolling. Cladding thickness is usually specified as a percentage of the total thickness, commonly 10%.

Gold-filled jewelry has long been made by this process: the surface is gold, the base metal bronze or brass with the cladding thickness usually 5%. The process is used to add corrosion resistance to steel and to add electrical or thermal conductivity, or good bearing properties, to strong metals. Corrosion-resistant pure aluminum is clad to a strong duralumin base, and many other combinations of metals are widely used in cladding; a development includes a technique for cladding titanium to steel for jet-engine parts.

Cladding supplies a combination of desired properties not found in any one metal. A base metal can be selected for cost or structural properties, and another metal added for surface protection or some special property such as electrical conductivity. Thickness of the cladding can be made much heavier and more durable than obtainable by electroplating.

Cladding can be added to both sides of a sheet or strip of base metal. Tubing can be supplied with a clad surface on inside or outside; round and rectangular wire can be clad similarly (see illustration).

Types of cladding.

For some forms of electrical contacts, the composite materials are bonded side by side, or silver is inset as a stripe on one side or along the edges. This construction can place solid silver just where it is needed to form an electrical contact with no waste of costly metal.

A related form of cladding is found in thermostatic bimetals in which equal thicknesses of low- and high-expansion metals are bonded together. With a change in temperature, differing expansion rates of the two metals cause the composite material to bend and thus operate values in automobile cooling systems, or electrical contacts in room thermostats.

Clad wires with properly chosen proportions of materials of different thermal-expansion rates can match the thermal expansion of types of glass used for vacuum-tight seals for conductors in lamp bulbs and hermetically sealed enclosures.

In making parts from clad metal, the composite material can be bent, drawn, spun, or otherwise formed just the same as the base metal without breaking the bond. The maximum service temperature is limited by the melting point of the material at the juncture of the two metals. See also Electroplating of metals; Metal coatings.

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The plastic or glass sheath that is fused to and surrounds the core of an optical fiber. The cladding's mirror-like coating keeps the light waves reflected inside the core. The cladding is covered with a protective outer jacket. See fiber optics glossary.

Cladding

The cladding covers the inner core of the fiber which is the actual pathway that the light travels through.

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1. See siding.
2. A metal coating which is bonded to another metal; see clad alloy.
3. In welding, the deposition of filler metal on a metal surface to obtain desired properties or dimensions; also called surfacing.
4. A nonstructural material (or the surface formed by such a material) used as the exterior covering for the carcass or framework of a building.
5. The surface on which shingles, tiles, or clapboards are fastened. Also see siding and veneer.cladding rail Same as girt.

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For a list of words related to cladding, see:

• Surfaces and Finishing Materials - cladding: process of covering one material, esp. metal, with another by bonding

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - beklædning, belægning

Nederlands (Dutch)
bekleding

Français (French)
n. - (Constr) revêtement

Deutsch (German)
n. - Verkleidung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - προστατευτική ή μονωτική επένδυση

Italiano (Italian)
rivestimento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - encapamento (m)

Русский (Russian)
армирование

Español (Spanish)
n. - revestimiento

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - skyddande metallöverdrag

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
包覆, 电镀

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 包覆, 電鍍

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 피복재

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - クラッディング, 外装材

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) غلاف لبنايه أو لأنبوب أو غيره للحمايه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כיסוי, ציפוי‬

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