What Are Aluminum Decking Materials
In the field of shipbuilding, aluminum plates are widely used due to their excellent performance, especially in the construction of ship decks. Different types of aluminum plates provide ships with the necessary strength, corrosion resistance and functionality.
Aluminum tread plates
The marine deck tread has specific patterns pressed on the surface of aluminum sheet. These patterns are not just for good looks, they have important practical uses. On the deck of a ship, safety is the primary consideration, and the anti-slip performance of patterned aluminum sheet is particularly critical.
When a ship is sailing at sea, the deck often becomes slippery due to splashing seawater and rain. Ordinary flat plates can easily cause people to slip and cause safety accidents. The aluminum tread plates increase the friction between the sole and the deck through its unique surface texture, greatly reducing the risk of slipping.
There are many alloy types of patterned aluminum plates. Aluminum-magnesium alloys like 5052 or 5083 are widely used in the field of ships. The 5000 series alloys themselves have good corrosion resistance, which is crucial for ships that are in a humid and high-salt marine environment for a long time. It also has a high hardness and a certain load-bearing capacity, which can meet the strength requirements of the ship's deck when people are walking and cargo is being handled.
In contrast, ordinary aluminum alloy patterned plates made from 1060 aluminum plates are inexpensive and can adapt to general environments, but they are slightly inferior in strength and corrosion resistance and are rarely used in scenes such as ships that have strict requirements on material properties.
Aluminum-manganese alloy tread plates like 3003 aluminum diamond plate have certain anti-rust properties. However, in ship deck applications, their hardness and corrosion resistance still do not meet the standards of the 5000 series. They are more used in occasions that require less stringent anti-rust, rather than the mainstream choice for ship decks.
Aluminum FSW plate
Aluminum FSW here refers to Friction Stir Welding, which is an innovative welding process that opens up new possibilities for the application of aluminum plates in shipbuilding. Traditional welding methods are prone to thermal deformation and unstable weld quality when welding aluminum plates, which affects the integrity and strength of the structure. Stir friction welding generates heat through the friction between the high-speed rotating stirring head and the aluminum plate, so that the aluminum plate material can be connected in a thermoplastic state, and no welding wire is required during the whole process.
In the construction of ship decks, multiple aluminum plates need to be spliced into a large deck area. The quality of the welds is directly related to the overall load-bearing capacity and safety of the deck. The high-quality welds of FSW welding can meet this strict requirement.
Secondly, due to the low heat input during the welding process, the thermal deformation of the aluminum plate is very small, which is crucial to ensure the flatness of the deck. A flat deck is not only conducive to the walking of personnel and the transportation of cargo, but also reduces the stress concentration caused by deformation and prolongs the service life of the deck.
Original Source:https://www.marinealu.com/a/what-are-aluminum-decking-materials.html
Tags: aluminum friction stir welding ,