© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The aim of the present work was a study of the influence of explosion welding on the grain structure, chemical composition, phase composition and phase transitions in bimetallic shape memory composites containing the TiNi shape memory alloy as an active layer and one of four alloys having different abilities to react with TiNi alloys as passive layer. Stainless steel was chosen as a non-reacted material, TiNi alloy was used as the alloy with close chemical composition, and Ti6Al4 V alloy and copper beryllium (C17200) alloy were chosen as materials which might react with TiNi alloy to form new phases. The results of the study showed that variations in the grain structure and properties of the layers in the bimetal composite depended on the ability of the alloys used for the production of these composites to react with TiNi alloys. If the alloys did not react with TiNi alloy, as in the case of stainless steel, the explosion welding resulted in significant plastic deform