SHIPBUILDING

INTRODUCTION
There is a wide range of materials used in
shipbuilding comprising ferrous metals, non- ferrous
metals, plastics, GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastics/ fiber
glass) and wood.
The most widely used material in ship building
remains steel especially plan carbon or mild steel
approximately 90%.
 Properties of Steel
Good metallurgical properties – to overcome
Brittle fracture and fatigue
Reasonable good mechanical properties
Low carbon steel (mild steel) have tensile strength
of 400 to 490 MN/m2 and Yield strength of 235
MN/m2, and elongation of 15 to 20 %
Susceptibility ease to join process by welding with
good control over weld defects

Cont-
 Reasonable cost
 Reasonably ease to cast
 Ability to be heat treated. Alloy elements can
also be use to change the character of steel:
- Carbon (0.18% to 0.28%) increases hardness
and strength but reduces ductility.
- Manganese (0.6% to 15%) increase tensile
strength, ductility and notch toughness
- Silicon (< 0.5%) increase hardness and
tensile strength without making welding
difficult.
- Sulphur (>0.04 or 0.05%) improves
weldability and welding stresses
- Phosphorus (> 0.04 or 0.05%) reduces
ductility and toughness
 Grades of steel
Grade A - White

Grade B - Green

Grade D - Red

Grade E - Yellow

Cont-
 Grade A
A mild steel used in the majority of the ship
structures of less than 20 mm thickness such as
bulkheads, tank top, non strength decks and
superstructures
 Grade B

A mild steel used for strength members of 20 to 25

mm thickness
 Grade D
A ‘Notch-tough’ steel which resists the spread of
cracks and has higher strength.

It is used for structure greater than 25 mm thick

 Grade E
An ‘Extra Notch tough’ steel because this is a heat
treated Grade D steel used for very thick plating in
excess of 50mm thick.

It is used for sheer strakes, bilge strakes, keels I.e. all
high stress regions of the ship
 Artic D
A special grade of steels used where part of the
structure is subject to extremely low temperature.
The Ultimate tensile strength is 435 to 510 NM/m2,
yield stress is 310 NM/m2 – 80% of UTS and absorbs
40 Joules of energy at - 55oC in a Charpy Impact
test. Normally used for icebreakers
Stainless steel
1. Suffers from deep pitting in stagnant waters-if cleaned
regularly this pitting can be reduced
Expected life spans of some materials in
sea water:

 Galvanised steel- 6 to 9 years

 Copper- Maximum velocity (water flow) 4ft/sec
 90/10 Cupro-Nickel- 10yrs+
 70/30 Cupro-Nickel- 22 yrs+