Abstract : A number of papers have been published in the open literature on the explosion welding of concentric cylinders and on the joining of tubes to tube plates. The paper attempts to provide a concise review of these contributions by discussing work performed by the authors and other investigators. Basically, two explosion welding techniques have been employed to weld cylindrical members. These are the gap technique in which the walls of the members are positioned parallel to each other, and the angular technique in which the walls are inclined at an angle. In the present stage of process development, concentric cylinders generally are welded using the gap technique. Welding conditions and difficulties characteristic of the process are discussed. Much of the available data on the explosion welding of cylindrical configurations relate to the joining of tubes to tube plates. Both angular and gap techniques have been used for these applications. Advantages and disadvantages of these techniques are considered and a number of shortcomings that have been encountered are discussed. Various base metal combinations that have been used in explosively welded cylindrical specimens and tubes to tube plate are reported.