Japanese 10,000-ton diffusion bonding press for clad metal

World's largest diffusion bonding press; in Japan; ~room-length plates; ~8 ft wide; ~10,000 tons. Japanese substituted diffusion bonding for explosive bonding in clad-metal manufacture. Tom cites it as a homework problem datum from 25 years ago.

Beyond that, if you've got flat parts, you've got to have a huge press. The world's largest diffusion bonding press is in Japan. It's in one of the homework problems — I don't remember from 25 years ago, but the data is in the thing. It's a plate that's probably as long as this room. It'll diffusion bond two plates together probably as long as this room and eight feet wide. It's got — I don't remember — 10,000 tons in the press. A pretty good-sized press, and a big vacuum furnace. Instead of explosive bonding to make a clad metal, the Japanese were doing diffusion bonding.