A New Field of Aluminum Application - Marine Aluminum
Yinsheung CNC Machining 2023-08-07 Published
In recent years, China's strong attitude towards the South China Sea issue means that in the future, China will carry out more economic and even military actions to safeguard its own interests in the South China Sea. To carry out activities at sea, ships are only essential. Undoubtedly, more ships will be launched in the future, traveling at the southern end of China, and the demand for industrial aluminum hull materials will also become quite strong.
Industrial aluminum for shipbuilding
Since 1891, industrial aluminum profiles have been used in the shipbuilding industry for nearly a century. With the rapid development of domestic and international shipbuilding industry, the lightweight of ships is increasingly being valued. Due to the low density, high strength, and strong corrosion resistance of industrial aluminum, it is very suitable for harsh marine environments. Moreover, the processing cost of industrial aluminum is relatively low, making it more economical to use industrial aluminum to manufacture ships. From the perspective of ship designers, ships made of industrial aluminum profiles can have faster speeds and longer service life under equal power conditions. Therefore, industrial aluminum profiles for ships have made rapid technological advancements in recent years, providing a vast market for a large number of aluminum profiles.
Industrial aluminum for shipbuilding - four major advantages
Excellent welding performance
Welding has more obvious advantages compared to riveting, as it is not possible to restore the performance lost due to welding through re heat treatment in shipbuilding. Industrial aluminum profiles have good welding crack resistance, and the performance of welded joints after welding is not significantly different, making them very conducive to the use of shipbuilding welding.
Excellent corrosion resistance
After aluminum comes into contact with air, a dense and sturdy aluminum oxide film forms on its surface, which can effectively resist the erosion of various elements in seawater. In addition to anodizing technology, industrial aluminum profiles can maintain a very stable form in seawater.
Low density, lightweight
The density of aluminum is only one-third that of iron. With the same hull size, industrial aluminum shaped ships can bring lighter weight, greatly benefiting the improvement of ship speed and fuel economy, thus obtaining longer range under the same fuel consumption.
Good cold and hot forming performance
During the construction process of ships, they must undergo cold processing (such as edge bending, rolling, stamping, etc.) and hot processing (such as hot bending, pyrotechnic correction, etc.). Therefore, it is required that marine aluminum alloy is easy to process and form, without producing defects such as cracks during processing, and can still meet performance requirements such as strength and corrosion resistance after processing.
Industrial aluminum for shipbuilding - application fields
aircraft carrier
The application of industrial aluminum profiles on aircraft carriers ranges from some takeoff and landing decks to some cabin decorations and kitchen equipment. Conservatively, it is estimated that the amount of industrial aluminum profiles used for each foreign aircraft carrier is around 1000 tons, which was adopted as early as the USS Enterprise, which was commissioned in 1961 in the United States.
Fast boats and high-speed boats
Long term navigation at sea requires materials to have good corrosion resistance and weldability. As early as 1988, China built the "Flying Fish" hydrofoil using 5A01 alloy plates, profiles, forgings, and welding wires. During the construction, semi-automatic melt electrode pulse argon arc welding and steel rotary tire frame Lama equipment were used.
Work boat
The aluminum hull does not require much maintenance. Durable and fast driving speed, allowing marine industry practitioners to use ships more economically and improve work efficiency.
LNG cargo ship
LNG (liquefied natural gas) can replace oil as energy source, and the need for it will become more urgent in times of oil crisis. LNG is formed by liquefaction of natural gas at low temperatures below -162 ℃, so metals with good low-temperature performance are required for the storage and transportation of LNG. Generally, aluminum alloys, nickel steel, and stainless steel are used, and aluminum alloys have good seawater corrosion resistance, so they tend to use aluminum alloys with light weight and good welding performance.
There are two main technologies for building LNG cargo ships: diaphragm or Moss Rosenberg. The characteristic of Moss Rosenberg ships is that they have large spherical tanks (at least 5 per ship), which are made of wider aluminum magnesium alloy plates and welded together using a special high current gaseous metal welding process.
Industrial aluminum for shipbuilding - application advantages
Aluminum alloy has the characteristics of low specific gravity and elastic modulus, corrosion resistance, weldability, easy processing, non magnetism, and good low-temperature performance. It has the following advantages when used in ships:
-Due to its small specific gravity, it can reduce the weight of the ship, reduce the single engine capacity, increase speed, reduce fuel consumption, and save fuel. It can improve the aspect ratio of the ship, increase stability, and make it easy to operate. It can also increase the payload and obtain additional profits.
-Due to its good corrosion resistance, it can reduce maintenance costs such as oiling and extend its service life (usually over 20 years).
-Good processing and forming performance, easy to perform various forms of processing such as cutting, stamping, cold bending, forming, and cutting, suitable for streamlined ship hull: can extrude large wide thin-walled profiles, reduce the number of welds, and make the ship structure reasonable and lightweight.
-Good welding performance and easy welding.
-The elastic modulus is small, the ability to absorb impact stress is large, and it has great safety.
-Aluminum waste is easy to recycle and can be recycled.
-No low-temperature brittleness, suitable for making low-temperature equipment.
-Due to non magnetism, the compass is not affected: all aluminum ships can avoid mine attacks and are suitable for use as minesweepers.
-No insect damage and dry deformation: non flammable, safer in case of fire.
The gap between industrial aluminum used in shipbuilding and developed countries
Although aluminum material is of great significance for achieving lightweight in ship transportation, it also has the drawback of high price, which hinders its promotion and use. Especially in the use of structural components in ship transportation vehicles, if the price of using aluminum alloy materials for the same components is more than three times that of steel materials, ship transportation vehicles need continuous and large-scale production and manufacturing to effectively control production costs, and there are high requirements for the stability of raw material prices.
The application of aluminum alloys in the field of ship transportation has begun, but there are still some technical issues that affect the promotion and use of aluminum materials. The most prominent issues among them are the welding technology of aluminum plates and steel plates, as well as the corrosion resistance of aluminum alloy materials for ship hulls. The extrusion of large, large, and complex aluminum alloy profiles for ships also needs to be further improved.
Industrial aluminum used in shipbuilding - China's global share
The proportion of China's shipbuilding industry in the global market is significantly increasing, and China has become one of the important shipbuilding centers in the world. The trend of industrial transfer in international manufacturing is a significant opportunity for the development of China's shipbuilding industry. In 2007, the economy grew rapidly, and shipbuilding, ship repair, and ship supporting industries achieved comprehensive growth. More than 1059 shipbuilding industry enterprises nationwide achieved a total industrial output value of 256.3 billion yuan, with an industrial added value of 68.3 billion yuan, an increase of 53% and 70% respectively compared to the previous year. The main business revenue exceeded 20 billion yuan, an increase of over 60%.
From January to November 2007, the total profit of national shipbuilding industry enterprises above designated size was 18.5 billion yuan, an increase of 7.85 billion yuan compared to the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 136%. After a round of rapid development in the shipping industry, China will break free from the limitations of foreign production technology on aluminum alloys and try to use aluminum alloy materials as the hull and superstructure materials of ships. Aluminum materials will have greater potential for application in the shipping industry.
Industrial Aluminum for Shipbuilding - Sailing Far Away
China has a coastline of over 18000 kilometers, which is rich in marine resources, but also brings significant difficulties to coastal defense. The increasingly acute South China Sea issue is a reminder of the importance of strengthening coastal defense. It can be seen that with the development of the economy and the ever-changing situation in the surrounding sea areas, maritime activities in China's surrounding areas will gradually increase, and ships used for trade or military purposes will be more invested in the sea. Therefore, industrial aluminum hull, with its unparalleled advantages, has a vast and unlimited future commercial prospects.
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