The development of the welding procedures and fatigue of butt-welded structures of aluminium-AA5383

The development of the aluminium shipbuilding industry has seen greater dem ands put upon the design of faster and larger vessels, particularly in the high speed ferry industry, and increasing loads put on existing vessels. Be cause of this the fatigue performance of marine grade aluminium alloys has become a limiting factor for design, especially with regard to severe servi ce conditions. Far more information is required, such as the load spectra a cting upon the structures and the effects of physical and metallurgical pro perties, to allow designers to cope with these increased requirements and m aximise the performance of the vessels. New grades of marine aluminium allo ys have appeared recently, which claimed to improve properties that will ai d the designer. CSIRO-MST has begun an in-depth evaluation of the fatigue p erformance of two marine grade aluminium alloys. Optimisation of welding pr ocedures, post-weld treatments and an understanding of how weld metallurgy relates to the fatigue performance are the major goals. The information pro duced in this study will allow ship designers and builders to lake full adv antage of the latest developments in marine grade aluminium alloys. It will also provide the constraints that can be used in the design of larger and faster high speed vessels, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserv ed.