Specialised Sandvik tubes help to preserve 17th century Swedish ship

摘要

THE Vasa Museum and Sandvik have announced a research and development cooperation agreement for an essential bolt replacement project to commence on the famous Vasa ship, in order to preserve the 17th century vessel's structural integrity well into the future. The cooperation will see the replacement of 5,000 iron bolts, originally installed in the 1960s, with unique bolts in highly advanced stainless steels from Sandvik, normally used within the demanding oil/gas-industry. It was brought about by the discovery that the original bolts were reacting with the atmosphere and consequently causing chemical erosion, which was damaging the historic woodwork of Vasa. The project is the culmination of two years' cooperation with Sandvik Materials Technology's R&D specialists to devise a replacement strategy and identify and evaluate suitable materials for the very specific application.