Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] ALUMINUM BALLAST

[Ian Roxborough <irox@ix.netcom.com>]

Hi,

I'm not sure it really matters water the ballast
tanks are made of, however, there are a couple
of things to take in to consideration if you are
considering using aluminum.

Is you ballast tank hard or soft?

If it is a soft ballast tank then the strength
doesn't matter "too much" (it's got to be able to
stand the force of air pushing whater out of),
because the air inside the tank should be at
ambient pressure like the human occupied space
in a dry ambient sub.  Normally the Main Ballast
Tanks (MBT) are soft tanks.

If it is a hard ballast tank, then it must be
must be able to with stand the pressure difference
of inside your submarine and the out side water
pressure.  This will require a lot more engineering
than the a soft tank, but aluminum is strong than
steel.

The other consideration I can remember is "what
other metals are you using?".  You don't want
important parts of your submarine to form battry
and dissolve or corrode away (if I remember correctly,
Al will make Fe dissolve to protect it).

Ian.

On Fri, 17 May 2002 20:19:31 -0300
"bruno masse" <rodin4@videotron.ca> wrote:

> IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO BUILD BALLAST TANK
> WITH ALUMINUM? IF YES IS IT GOOD FOR DEEP SUB
> ABOUT 1000 FEETS?
> 
> TANKS
> 
> BRUNO
> 


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