What Are Aluminum Sheet Applications?

 The selection of marine aluminum alloys is relatively strict. At present, the marine grade aluminum sheets such as 5083, 5086, 5454, 5754, 6061 and 5456 aluminum are mostly used. In practical applications, the advantages of marine aluminum alloys are very obvious.

Firstly, it has a small specific gravity, which can reduce ship weight, save energy consumption and increase load capacity; secondly, it has good corrosion resistance, which reduces oiling and other expenses and extends its service life; thirdly, it has good welding and processing formability, which is convenient for later processing.

The USS Dewey (DLG14), the first guided missile destroyer of the U.S. Navy, is 15.24m longer than the largest destroyer during World War II, and its displacement is almost twice as large. Among the 811.30t aluminum alloy used in the superstructure of the "Dewey", most of them are 5456 alloy thick plates and 5086 alloy thin plates.

Aluminum alloys on ships are divided into aluminum alloys for hull structures and aluminum alloys for outfitting according to their uses. The three alloys 5083, 5086 and 5456 are mainly used in hull structures. Since 6000 series alloys will suffer from intergranular corrosion when encountering seawater, 6000 series alloys can only be used on the upper part of ships.

Aluminum 5086 equivalent is often used to process many parts such as ship hulls, operating desks, and decks. But the most important thing is the underwater part of the hull. Especially when exposed to seawater all year round, the underwater part of the hull must be able to resist corrosion from seawater and be durable for a long time.

Marine grade aluminum plate 5456 has higher strength than 5086 and 5083, having good practicality and weldability. It is usually used for bulkheads and superstructures of the patrol boat and work boat hulls.

In terms of stress corrosion cracking susceptibility, the weight loss of 5456-H116 alloy is almost twice that of 5083-H116 alloy in a shorter aging time. When the aging time exceeds 150 h, the weight loss of 5083-H116 alloy is much higher than that of 5456-H116 alloy, indicating that after time >100 h, the structural corrosion sensitivity of 5456 alloy is much lower than that of 5083-H116 alloy.

Original Source:https://www.marinealu.com/a/what-are-aluminum-sheet-applications.html