Mechanical Behaviour of Metals in Deep Ocean Environments

Abstract

THE rapidly developing interest in deep ocean engineering makes it necessary to consider possible effects of deep ocean environments on the properties of engineering materials. The principal difference between a deep ocean environment and an environment just below the surface of an ocean is, of course, that in the former there exists a large hydrostatic pressure. It can easily be shown that if the depth from the surface, h, is measured in fathoms, the hydrostatic pressure, P, is given by: This communication considers the changes in mechanical properties which might be expected to result from this hydrostatic pressure. We shall consider first reversible effects, that is, effects which should be observed only when a metal or alloy is stressed while submerged in a deep ocean, and, secondly, possible irreversible effects, that is, property changes which might be caused by deep submergence and persist after the metal or alloy has been removed from the deep ocean environment.