Ship&Offshore | Issue 06/2013
A light, durable and economical material for the offshore industry
ALUMINIUM Long experience with numerous aluminium alloys in marine climates and seawater has shown aluminium, especially when suitably designed, to be highly corrosion-resistant. In recent years it has also been increasingly used in the offshore wind energy sector: as a structural material in the construction of supply and maintenance boats, as a lightweight material for helicopter hoist platforms as well as platforms in the towers of wind energy installations, and for cables, transformers and housings for switch cabinets. As Dr Thomas Hentschel from Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products GmbH in Bonn, Germany, points out in the following article, even more marine applications are possible for durable, economical aluminium.