Commander Fred Latrash,

U.S. Navy (retired)

VP, Business Development, Navy and Air
Force Programs, Alcoa Defense

Introduction
Aluminum has proven itself as a
lightweight, durable and affordable
material that allows naval ships to go
faster speeds, carry bigger payloads and
travel longer ranges.
New technologies and advancements
are making aluminum an increasingly
popular choice for military ships of all
sizes.
Historical concerns about aluminum
ships have been resolved.

Agenda
5 minutes

Intro (Latrash)

15 minutes

Advantages of
Aluminum (Conner)

15 minutes

ABS Rules for

Aluminum (Novak)

25 minutes

Q&A (w/Audience)
3

Speakers

Brett Conner, Ph.D

Derek Novak

Segment Leader, Sea Systems,

Alcoa Defense

Vice-President,
Engineering, ABS Americas

BRETT CONNER, PH.D

5

Why Marine Aluminum?

Properties and Attributes
of Aluminum

Capabilities

High strength-weight-ratio

Fuel Savings

Density one-third that of steel

Excellent corrosion resistance
Weldable
Ease of forming, bending and
machining
Availability and diversity of
functional semi-finished products
High thermal and electrical
conductivity
Recyclable

Increased Range
Increased Payload
Higher Speeds
Maneuverability
Stability
Less maintenance
Lower total ownership cost

Non-magnetic
6

Marine Alloys
5XXX Alloys

Strain hardening alloys

Primary alloying element is Mg
Commonly used marine alloys: 5086,
5083, 5456 and 5454
Excellent corrosion resistance
Weldable with good as-welded strength

6XXX Alloys

Heat treatable alloys

Primary alloy elements are Mg and Si
Commonly used marine alloys: 6005, 6061 and 6082
Able to extrude in multi hollow shapes
Takes a knock down in as-welded strength

Alloys and Tempers

Alloy

Temper

5083-H116

H Strain hardened (cold

worked) with or without
thermal treatment
H1 Strain hardened
without thermal
treatment
O Full soft (annealed)

6061-T6

T Heat treated to produce

stable tempers
T4 Solution heat treated
and naturally aged
T6 Solution heat treated
and artificially aged

Properties:
Yield strength
As-welded strength
Corrosion performance

Material Properties
Comparing 5XXX Alloys

% Mg

5456-H116
5083-H116

Yield
Strength
N/mm2
(ksi)

4.7-5.5

228 (33.0)

179 (26)

4.0-4.9

214 (31.0)

165 (24)

Comparing 5XXX and 6XXX

6061-T6
5456-H116

As welded
Yield Strength
(butt weld),
N/mm2 (ksi)

Comparing H Tempers

Yield
Strength
N/mm2
(ksi)

As welded
Yield Strength
(butt weld),
N/mm2 (ksi)

241 (35.0)

138 (20)

228 (33.0)

179 (26)

5456-H116
5456-H111

Yield
Strength
N/mm2
(ksi)

228 (33.0)
179 (26.0)

Data from ABS Rules for Materials and Welding 2006 Part
2 ALUMINUM and FIBER REINFORCED PLASTICS (FRP)
9

Wait a minutehasnt U.S. Navy

used aluminum before? Whats
different?
Yes! U.S. Navy has extensive experience
with aluminum dating back to 1890s
All U.S. surface combatants from 1947 until
DDG-51 had aluminum in their deckhouses
Radars, sensors, weapons, helos
Typhoon Cobra

Whats new?
Aluminum revival for Navy vessels: Littoral Combat
Ship (LCS), Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), Shipto-Shore Connector (SSC)
Manufacturing technology
Design rules and tools
New material specifications for marine plate: ASTM
B928 for 5XXX plate with greater than 3% Mg

10

Reducing Acquisition Cost

Consider an all-aluminum frigate with maximum
speed of 30 kts, endurance of 2000 nautical miles,
payload excluding fuel of 150 tons:
Nearly 90% of cost to fabricate structure is labor but
only 1% of total ship cost is materials
Therefore, reducing labor cost has greatest impact on
acquisition cost. How can aluminum help?
Diverse product forms such as sheet/plate,
extrusions, castings and forgings enable parts
consolidation & design simplification
Joining technologies: automation and
mechanization
Alcoa is your partner for reducing cost in shipbuilding

LBP
Beam at DWL
Depth
Draft
Propulsion Power
Light Ship Weight
Displacement

Aluminum Reduced
Draft
91 m
12 m
8.5 m
3.66 m
28,800 kW
1630 t
2122 t

Sources: Lamb, Beavers, Ingram and

11 Lamb and Beavers (2010)
Schmieman (2009),

Building Ships with Aluminum

Materials
Bending and forming
Extrusions
Specialty extrusions
Integrally stiffened panels made from
joined extrusions

Joining
Automated and mechanized linear
welding
Friction Stir Welding
GMAW and HDGMAW
Laser and Laser-Stir Welding

Manual welding: Pulse MIG welding

Did you know?
Mechanical fastening
In U.S., 44 shipyards and ship repair
Adhesive bonding

Cutting and handling

CNC cutting and routing
Handling at the shipyard

facilities in 15 states build and repair

with aluminum.
Around the world, there are more
than 430 ship builders in more than 60
countries with the capability to build and
repair aluminum ships.
12

Reducing Total Life Cycle Cost

Most of the total ownership costs
reside in operations and sustainment
Lighter structure results in fuel savings.
For this frigate, the fuel savings will be 71
tons per voyage with an annual cost
saving of $1,278,000 over an all-steel
design.
For a 25 year life-cycle, fuel cost savings
would be $32 million.
Painting: No need to paint 5XXX
aluminum.
Recycling: higher residual value at end of
life scrapping.
Nearly 75% of the aluminum ever
made is still in use today

13

Keeping Total Ownership Costs

Down: Avoid past pitfalls!
Prevent fatigue cracking: analyze
stresses especially at details and
perform a spectral fatigue analysis
Material selection to prevent stress
corrosion cracking
Marine plate with greater than 3% Mg must
be certified to ASTM B928
If service temperatures exceed 65C or 150F,
choose an alloy with less than 3% Mg such
as 5454

Galvanic corrosion
Isolate from steel
Store and handle appropriately

14

Alcoa Advantage
Largest vertically integrated aluminum
company in world: Know aluminum from
production to application to recycling
Multiple product forms for optimized
marine solutions: Rolled products
(sheet/plate), extrusions, castings and
forgings
Alcoa Collaborative Development
Approach to work with customers to
develop product solutions

15

DEREK NOVAK
16

Overview
ABS Experience
ABS Requirements for Aluminum
Construction
Approved Alloys
Welding Solutions
Design Solutions

17

17

ABS Aluminum Projects

HSNC Projects

Joint High Speed Vessel (All Aluminum)

LCS Freedom Class (Aluminum Deckhouse)
LCS Independence Class (All Aluminum)
SEA FIGHTER
ONR E-Craft (Aluminum Barge Hull)
HSV-2
USCG Fast Response Cutter, Sentinel Class (Aluminum
Deckhouse)
USN Torpedo Weapons Retriever (All Aluminum)
USNA YPs (Aluminum Deckhouse)
Egyptian Navy Fast Missile Craft (Aluminum Deckhouse)
Egyptian Navy Patrol Craft (All Aluminum)
Oman Patrol Craft (All Aluminum)
Canadian Navy YAP (All Aluminum)

Commercial Vessels
Gulf of Mexico Crewboats
Passenger Ferries

Motor Pleasure and Charter Yachts

Trinity Yachts
Burger Boats

18

18

ABS Rules for Aluminum

Construction
Aluminum Vessel Rules
Rules for Steel Vessels Under 90m
Allows for aluminum superstructures
Uses Q-factor approach

Guides for:

Motor Pleasure Yachts

Offshore Racing Yachts
High Speed Craft
High Speed Ferries, Crewboats
High Speed Naval Craft

19

Typical Aluminum Alloys:

5000 Series

5000 Series Aluminum Alloys

Corrosion resistant in marine environments

Readily weldable
Non heat treatable aluminum magnesium alloys
Good as-welded strength

The most popular base metal for shipbuilding in the

United States is 5083
The 5083 base alloy was registered with the Aluminum
Association in 1954. Advantages for shipbuilding are
its availability, excellent strength, corrosion resistance,
formability and weldability.
Lower strength alloys (5052 and 5086) have been
used for lower stress locations and smaller vessels
5456 is a higher strength alloy typically used in military
applications

20

Typical Aluminum Alloys:

6000 Series
6000 Series Aluminum Alloys
Heat treatable aluminum magnesium silicon
Used frequently as extruded shapes and
sections
6000 alloys need to be protected from sea
water
Poor as-welded strength

The most popular extruded alloy for

shipbuilding in the United States is 6061
Lower strength alloys (6005A and 6063)
have been used for lower-stressed
locations
6082 is the most common extrusion in
Europe and Australia

21

22

Aluminum Welding Issues

Problems:
High distortion
Burn through
Weld quality

Solutions:
Friction Stir Welding
Specialty Extrusions

23

Friction Stir Welding (FSW)

ABS has issued series of five documents identifying requirements for FSW:

FSW I: Essential Elements of a Friction Stir Weld Procedures, Re-welds

and Repairs
Includes essential elements, limits on those elements, and changes to the
procedure that would require requalification

FSW II: Friction Stir Weld Procedure Qualification Test Requirements

FSW III: Friction Stir Weld Operator Qualification Test Requirements
FSW II and III list the destructive and nondestructive evaluations
to be used in qualifying a procedure and operator

FSW IV: Friction Stir Welding Fabrication Requirements

FSW V: Friction Stir Welding Procedure, Operator Qualification,
and Production Non-Destructive Testing Requirements
FSW I-FSW V have been provided to the Navy technical
authorities for comment

24

24

Specialty Excursions
Extrusions are designed for weld joint

Plank-to-plank connections need to be

designed

25

26

Design Issues
Problems
Reduced mechanical properties when
welded
Lower fatigue life

Solutions
Extrusions
Good structural details

27

Use of Specialty Extrusions

High Strength to Weight Ratios

Optimized Scantlings

28

Use of Specialty Extrusions

ABS recognized that aluminum extruded
planking could safely allow for structure
that is thinner than conventional
plate/stiffener combinations

ABS developed scantling criteria for

these extrusions in the High Speed
Naval Craft Guide (Section 3-2-3/2)
29

Design Details
Soft toe brackets

Specialty extrusion used to connect extrusions

together

30

31

Summary
Advancements in ship design,
analysis and manufacturing
methods have overcome past
concerns with aluminum regarding
corrosion, sensitization and repair
Acquisition costs of aluminum
ships are competitive with steel
ships, but aluminum ships have a
clear advantage in total ownership
costs
32

How to Contact Speakers

Derek Novak - ABS
dnovak@eagle.org

Brett Conner, PhD Alcoa Defense

brett.conner@alcoa.com

Fred Latrash Alcoa Defense

frederick.latrash@alcoa.com

33

Additional Resources
Download Todays Slides
alcoadefense.com

Replay of Todays Webinar (audio & video)

E-mailed to you early next week

ABS
www.eagle.org

Alcoa Defense
www.alcoadefense.com
Download White Paper
Aluminum & Shipbuilding

34

Question & Answer

To ask question over telephone
dial *1 to ask a question

To ask question over via chat

use Q&A box on screen, type
question, click submit question

35

Thank You
Webinar Replay
Download slides today
Replay (audio/video) emailed next week

Feel free to contact:

Derek Novak
dnovak@eagle.org

Brett Conner, PhD

brett.conner@alcoa.com

Fred Latrash
frederick.latrash@alcoa.com

36