Page 62: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2003)

Marine Materials marine classification societies. The combined work of these groups will help to address the communication gap between marine end users and distribu- tors of aluminum that became apparent in late 2001 /early 2002 in the Pacific

Northwest.

As has been reported in various marine industry publications, the per- formance of some 5083-H321 supplied to Pacific Northwest boat manufacturers indicated that the existing material spec- ifications were insufficient to ensure that the materials used had adequate resistance to all intergranular forms of corrosion. (Please see "Aluminum

Gone Bad," Maritime Reporter, May 2003, pg. 44).

There was clearly a need/desire by those impacted, specifically builders of unclassed vessels in domestic service, for a new specification aimed specifical- ly at aluminum sheet and plate products for the marine market. While the impe- tus for this activity was based largely on material supplied by one mill during an identified time period, it was clear to the aluminum industry and the Coast Guard that this was an issue that was important to all producers of aluminum products for the marine market as well as to the marine industry and the marine classifi- cation societies world wide.

While the Aluminum Boat Solutions

Team (consisting of aluminum produc- ers, metal service center representatives, the Coast Guard and other representa- tives from the naval architecture/marine engineering discipline) was created to address the investigate and remediate the specific 5083-H321 problems in the

Pacific Northwest, a parallel effort was needed to address the perceived short- comings in the existing materials speci- fications. (Note: A paper discussing the problems experienced by certain Pacific

Northwest boat builders and an histori- cal perspective on the development of high Mg aluminum alloys for the marine industry was presented at the SNAME annual meeting in San Francisco in

October 2003.)

At the request of the Aluminum Boat

Solutions Team and with the support of representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard,

The Task Group on Marine Alloys was formed in late April of 2002 under the auspices of The Aluminum Association's

Technical Committee on Product

Standards. The task group's mission was to create a draft document that would expedite the development of a new ASTM material specification - (New ASTM Specifications can fre- quently take up to two years or more to develop and publish.) This task group consisted of representatives of major

November 2003 aluminum producers that supply prod- ucts to the global marine industry and was chaired by Michael Skillingberg,

VP Technology for The Aluminum

Association.

In August of 2002 a draft specification was delivered to ASTM B 07.03, which is the Subcommittee for Aluminum

Alloy Wrought Products. While the

Task Group at the Aluminum

Association had solicited input from classification societies and boat builders during the creation of the draft specifi- cation, the ASTM was the appropriate venue for more active participation by the broader community in the develop- ment of the new specification. With the help and encouragement of the Coast

Guard, additional input was solicited from the marine industry and the classi- fication societies to ensure that the new document would be of practical use and would complement the requirements of the classification societies.

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