Innovations in Russian shipbuilding

Innovations in Russian shipbuilding

Russian designers and shipbuilders in St. Petersburg have set a new world record by successfully casting the world’s largest ship with a 100 percent composite material body. The height of the ship is eight meters, and its displacement is almost one thousand tons.

The record was set at the shop where a new mine sweeper is being built to carry out an order by the Russian Defence Ministry. This will be a state-of-the-art ship with a carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic hull. In its characteristics, the ship surpasses all existing projects of this class, says the general director of the Sredne-Hevsky Shipyard, Vladimir Seredokho.

“The shipyard has been building ships with fiberglass hulls for over 40 years, and the first such ship was launched in 1963. It was also an anti-mine ship. At present, we have started implementing a new project using innovative technologies. We use the most advanced materials such as woven glass and carbon cloth. We are also using a new technology, vacuum infusion. This is a non-contact method,” says Vladimir Seredokho.

The shell of the ship is formed using a special fibre. Later, it is impregnated with a special solution without the involvement of workers since the process is controlled by a computer. Then the composite materials are allowed to solidify. Such a hull does not second to a steel one in endurance, although it weighs only 70 tons instead of 200 tons, says Vladimir Seredokho.

“Our achievement is that we could coordinate latest developments in making new materials and programmes, and we could automate the entire process. This is partially done in other countries. We coordinated all processes and locked them up and made them more controllable. Moreover, we could form the hull with an 8-meter-high board. Earlier, it was less than five meters. We are the first to solve this technological problem,” Vladimir Seredokho said.

The defence Ministry needs ships with composite hulls for anti-mine defence and patrolling the sea border. The main advantage of these ships is that radars cannot track them. Moreover, they do not corrode and consume less fuel since they are lighter.

The production of ships using composite materials is a dual technology, which will be used to build high-speed passenger boats, yachts and ferries.

The achievement of the designers and shipbuilders in St. Petersburg will be included in the Guinness Book of World Records and other special international publications. This is an important achievement in the use of advanced technology and a new step in promoting shipbuilding.


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