Best Metal For Inaccessible Brackets In High Security Applications.
Best Metal For Inaccessible Brackets – We’re undertaking an install with brackets being mounted on light towers in areas that are going to be very tough to access for maintenance. What is the most corrosion resistant metal we could use?
A: We’d be thinking of customised brackets made of ferritic marine grade stainless steel. All ferritic types of stainless steel are tough and very resistant to chlorides. The most notable of these is SEA-CURE, which is renowned for long life and resistance to vibration.
SEA-CURE is the product of the Argon Oxygen decarburization refining process with the use of titanium as a third alloy. The result is a stainless steel that’s as resistant to corrosion as titanium itself. Another stainless-steel option is type 409 – a metal used in the manufacture of car exhaust systems. It’s super tough as well.
The trouble for you is that these options are going to be expensive to have customised, though in the highest security applications this may not be a mitigating factor. A less expensive alternative is to use galvanized metal protected with corrosion resistant paints – layers and layers of it.
However, painted surfaces need to be carefully maintained to ensure that moisture isn’t somehow getting under the paint layer and into contact with raw metal, so you’d start with layers of undercoat and work up.
Prior to installation you’d need to drill all the bolt holes before painting, and you’d need to prep nuts and bolts and avoid any over tightening that might cause metal exposure. But if access is a problem, ongoing maintenance will be impossible.
Best Metal For Inaccessible Brackets
If cost is a big deal, consider anodised aluminium which is deliberately rendered positive during the manufacturing process to encourage formation of a strong oxide barrier that protects the metal from further corrosion. Aluminium oxide forms a layer of sapphire you can paint over. You need to be especially careful to isolate fastenings when using aluminium – stainless-steel fixings are a particular problem. Inert spacers made of rubber or poly are going to suffer from UV degradation, highlighting lack of access as your big problem.
Finally, when using metal in areas where things are going to be wet a lot of the time and there’s no chance of maintenance, think about custom bronze fittings. Italian archaeologists recently pulled up bronze bow rams off Sicily from ships sunk during a fierce naval action between Rome and Carthage during the First Punic War in 241BC. The rams were in nearly perfect original condition.
Bronze is comparatively inexpensive but finding a local foundry that doesn’t specialise entirely in statues and artworks would be the trick – a foundry like Crawfords might be able to help with advice if not casting.
You can read about SEA-CURE stainless steel here or find more SEN news here.
“Best Metal For Inaccessible Brackets In High Security Applications.”
