Use In Shipping
Wrought Iron is also used in vehicles, such as large cargo vessels/ships. An infamous example of this is the disaster of the RMS Titanic. The hull of the Titanic was made of steel, held together by Wrought Iron Rivets, which were hammered into place and cooled. At the time, this was a revolutionary feat, as over 40,000 rivets were used to hold the ship together. When the ship struck the iceberg, research indicates that the rivets in the impact region exploded due to high pressures, causing the integrity of the steel plates to be vulnerable and allowed water to gush into the ship.[1] Upon further research, it was understood that during the construction of the Titanic, there were not enough Wrought iron rivets for the whole ship, so some areas were left without rivets. [2] While Wrought iron provides us with engineering revolutions in shipping, there is also drawbacks with its use, and this can be utilized to mitigate future disasters.
- ^ "NIST Reveals How Tiny Rivets Doomed a Titanic Vessel". NIST. 2017-06-20.
- ^ Broad, William J. (2008-04-15). "In Weak Rivets, a Possible Key to Titanic's Doom". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-25.