Steel making is a sensitive process, just watch that knife making show a few times and then imagine that on an industrial scale. Temperatures, carbon content, oxidization, impurities, casting/forging... all of that has to be controlled and if it's fucked up you have to scrap it and start all over again.
yeah i get that but im thinking less actual material therefore something saved somewhere or shes taken a slice out of materials theyre charging for and not buying, then faking strength tests to make it appear the product is a stronger product with more material.
i think that makes sense.
Yeah I understand and maybe they are not hammering out the sheets to a uniform spec within specified naval tolerances (some sections too thin/thick) but if you read about 'cheap Chinese steel' and the problems manufacturers have with it, it begins all the way back at the crucible and the presence of contaminants/impurities which impacts the crystalline structure of the steel and creates weak points. Like I said it's a difficult and complex process that uses a ton of energy and can go wrong at many, many points. Get the iron/nickle/carbon ratios wrong, your ingot is fucked. Too slow getting the ingot to the rollers, you have scaling/oxidization and your ingot is fucked... The navy probably demands very specific tolerances for tensile strength, elasticity, thickness, etc. I don't think it was "lets make it .5cm thinner than specified to save cash across the board" and more "fuck this came out .5cm thinner than specified, let's just ship it anyway" or "This has too much carbon and is too brittle but nobody will ever know."
Basically what I think happened is the foundry made shit steel. Shit steel they couldn't sell to the navy, unless someone fudge the spec sheets. Basically it was so the company wasnt out money. They ripped off the Navy.
One word: China.
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