Quote:
Originally Posted by billknny
What advantages does Ti have over bronze for most chainplate applications?
It is lighter of course, but for 99.9% of boats the difference can't be significant down low.
It is shiny and stays that way... so I guess if that is important...
But bronze is similar in strength to stainless in the same dimensions. Corrosion is not an issue. And I don't know of any long term fatigue issues.
With a little care, bronze can be worked by pretty much anybody with a bit of knowledge. The overall fabricated cost is similar to stainless. When I have looked at fabricated Ti vs 316 stainless they are NOT that similar in cost.
For the typical cruising boat why Ti? Cache'?
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I looked at bronze and wanted to go that way. The cost was similar to stainless and I could drill the material myself and no need to polish like stainless. I was planning to go with silicon bronze. The problem I had is that I did not feel comfortable with the material source. A lot of bronze is coming out of China and I did not feel comfortable with the quality control. The other problem I had was with the material, it was bronze but was is rolled sheet, wrought, or cast? I think there are big differences in the strength. Also, I could not find bar for the dimensions I needed. Therefore I need to have the chain plates cut from bronze plate. The cutting opened up another can of worms. I just did not have a good comfort level with bronze, and some of that is due to my lack of knowledge on the types of bronze material out there. the other problem I found is the strength numbers for bronze seem all over the map. If I look up strength for silicon bronze, I can find some similar to 316 stainless and some well below.