Speaking of aircraft carriers, a lot of people
Based on the influence of the "thick-armored cannon" in the battleship era, in the minds of many people, the aircraft carrier will be so resistant to beating because the steel used is very thick, and even many people think that the thickness of the steel plate on the aircraft carrier can reach 5 meters.
The thickness of the steel plate on the aircraft carrier
Of course, the thickness of the steel plate on the aircraft carrier cannot reach 5 meters thick, after all, if the aircraft carrier uses such a thick steel plate, I am afraid that it will not be able to float on the water.
Even if it can float, such a thick steel plate will seriously squeeze the space in the internal compartment of the aircraft carrier, resulting in a significant reduction in the combat efficiency of the aircraft carrier.
Shandong aircraft carrier
And the thickness of the steel plate in different areas of the aircraft carrier is different, depending on the aircraft carrier equipment or cabin different conditions, it is natural to arrange different thickness of steel plates.
Take the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier of the United States as an example, in which the thinnest steel plate on the aircraft carrier is undoubtedly the deck.
The aircraft carrier is layered like a building, and the different compartments need to be separated by a layer of steel plates, and the thickness of the upper and lower layered steel plates is the lowest because it basically does not consider the blow, so the thickness is only 4~18 mm.
The thickest part is the armor system of the aircraft carrier, which can reach a thickness of up to 330 mm.
It should be noted that although the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers of the United States are generally similar in design, from the fourth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier (CVN-71) onwards, the "Gongkefler Armor System" has been retrofitted, and its thickness has reached 63.5 mm.
CVN-71
Counting the Nimitz-class itself, the maximum armor system of 330 mm has been reached, resulting in the thickest point of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier rushing to more than 400 mm.
The consequences of increasing the thickness of the carrier's armor were also catastrophic, which greatly increased the weight of the Nimitz carrier.
The first three Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, from CVN-68 to CVN-70, have a full load displacement of about 91,000 tons.
However, from the fourth Nimitz-class ship equipped with the "Gongkefler Armored System", the displacement of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier exceeded 97,000 tons.
CVN-71
Subsequently, the United States added something to the aircraft carrier, which made the Nimitz-class subsequent aircraft carriers officially exceed 100,000 tons of full load displacement.
The "Kävfler Armor System" was only added to the side to protect the ammunition depot and engine room, and the thickness was only more than 60 mm.
If the steel on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier can reach 5 meters, then it is not a matter of increasing the displacement of several thousand tons, and a "big iron lump" with a length of more than 300 meters and a width of more than 70 meters, the displacement of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier may exceed one million tons.
In addition to the above, there is a special place on the aircraft carrier, that is, the flight deck. Because the flight deck has to carry the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft, the thickness of the steel plate cannot be thin.
Carrier-based aircraft landed
At the same time, because of the processing technology, it cannot be thick, otherwise it cannot be welded, so the thickness of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier needs to be just right, which is 40~60 mm.
It can be said that the thickness design of the steel plate on the aircraft carrier itself is a very technical place, and the thickness of the steel plate required in different places is not the same, and it is impossible to achieve the most "cost-effective" solution without long-term exploration and trial and error.
Of course, the steel used in aircraft carriers is also a high-tech product, and there are only a handful of countries that can produce it.
Aircraft carrier construction
The question of the material of the aircraft carrier's steel
The technical difficulty of the steel used in the aircraft carrier is mainly concentrated in the two aspects of material and processing technology. In terms of material, aircraft carriers need "aircraft carrier steel" with very high technical content because of various needs.
Just when sailing at sea, the aircraft carrier steel needs to be able to withstand high humidity and high alkaline environments, otherwise the aircraft carrier is easily rusted under the erosion of seawater.
For example, India's domestically produced aircraft carrier Vikrant has been seriously corroded at the bottom of the dock because of the problem of aircraft carrier steel.
Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikrant
In comparison, the Soviet-produced Varyag aircraft carrier was much better in steel.
When the Varyag arrived in China, it was only a layer of floating rust on the surface. The mainland will be able to carry out the retrofitting work after a simple rust removal work.
In addition, the aircraft carrier steel also needs to be able to accept degaussing treatment. At present, most of the mines designed by humans rely on a set of "magnetic pointers" to detonate.
Therefore, the aircraft carrier needs "0 magnetism", otherwise it is easy to trigger mines.
mine
Problems with the processing of aircraft carrier steel
In terms of processing technology, the biggest feature of aircraft carrier steel is "large". In particular, the side armor of aircraft carriers, such as the armor, needs to be welded with steel with a length of more than 5 meters in width.
Normally, the larger the surface area of these steels, the better, but the sides of the aircraft carrier are curved, and due to the limitations of processing technology, the length and width of steel are about 5 meters is already the limit.
But the aircraft carrier steel is too small. Too small will result in a longer weld length, which will greatly increase the construction time of the aircraft carrier.
Aircraft carrier construction
To produce such a huge amount of steel, there are great requirements for the processing technology of the country. At the most basic level, a 5-meter plate mill is required.
The aircraft carrier steel is rolled and formed at one time, which can eliminate the stress in the steel as much as possible and make it reach the highest level of strength.
Before the refit of the Liaoning, the mainland suffered from the fact that it did not have a large enough plate rolling mill to produce a large enough steel unit at one time.
As a result, the mainland's Anshan Iron and Steel Group was ordered to develop a giant plate rolling mill with a width of 5.5 meters and a length of 40 meters.
Of course, the most difficult part of aircraft carrier steel processing is how to relieve its stress, especially the steel used in the aircraft carrier flight deck.
You must know that 20~30 tons of carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier run over every day, and when the carrier-based aircraft lands with full fuel and bombs, the impact can reach hundreds of tons.
Carrier-based aircraft landed
Such a large weight requires the steel used in the flight deck to have high tensile resistance and strength, and to reduce the stress as much as possible.
To be able to produce steel of this strength, the world can count on one hand.
In addition to the above difficulties, there is a special piece of steel on the aircraft carrier that is worth mentioning, that is, the flame shield. The aircraft carrier flame shield is the board that blocks the butt of the carrier-based aircraft every time it takes off.
This flame shield is also a stuck neck technology, like India, which has not been developed, and its domestic aircraft carrier Vikrant does not have a flame shield.
Flame shields
This flame shield needs to be able to withstand thousands of degrees of flame in the tail of the fighter, which requires not only very advanced steel processing technology, but also very strong material science technology.
Of course, the design of the steel itself is not enough to withstand such a high plasma jet, and a very strong water cooling system is required, as well as a coating that resists high temperatures.
Resources:
[1] Global Times, "Dream Linkage: The "Super Deck" Coating of the Fujian Aircraft Carrier was Developed by the Rocket Institute
[2] China's well-off network, "Is it difficult to manufacture the steel plate used in aircraft carriers? High temperature resistance is only one of them, and it must have many characteristics"