Corten steel

[Anders Radmark]

Can anyone tell me why it is good to use Corteen steel in deck and hull and what the difference is to normal Marin steel.

Kind regards
Anders Sw

[lazeyjack]

I posted that somewhere
it is high tensile, it very very very strong, it hardly corrodes unpainted, on land. you can lower your platel thickness, you wont roll it, but need wheels to form it
Last, you need to weld it with Low Hydrogen, so that means no toy welding machines)

[nero]

lazeyjack has excellent advice.

Low Hydrogen is impossible to weld with on a chineese welder. Won't even strike an arc!

[Wynand N]

To weld low hydrogen rods you need a welding machine with a mininum 72 OCV (open circuit voltage) with either AC or DC unit.

Corten is not all that a good marine plate as it is made out. Although it has a little more tensile strenght than mild steel, it's real benefit is the little amount of copper that is added into the mix - basically to prevent barnical growth the main reason for using Corten, but that is debatable.
We actually built a few raduis chine hulls with it and is easily rolled by pyramid plate rolls.

For what is worth, I think Monel plating is a far better material....

[MikeJohns]

Originally Posted by Anders Radmark

Can anyone tell me why it is good to use Corteen steel in deck and hull and what the difference is to normal Marin steel.

Kind regards
Anders Sw

Anders
Its around 40% stronger than mild so if the design calls for thin plate for weight saving you will get less weld distortion and a stiffer plating if you use Corten. It's downside is a poorer fatigue endurance and a much higher cost.

In a marine environment the corrosion resistance of Corten over Mild is not justified.

cheers