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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
Making museum ships fit for the future? This is the idea behind the new cooperation project “NaSchiff” by the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven and the Leibniz Institute for Materials-Oriented Technologies (IWT) at the University of Bremen. For the first time, researchers are combining monument preservation, materials research, and maritime museum practice. The project will start on October 1 and is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU).
Ships are not built for museums – strictly speaking, they are disposable products with a clearly defined life cycle of no more than four decades. This makes the question of how RAU IX, ELBE 3 and others can be preserved for future generations as maritime cultural assets and witnesses to times long past all the more pressing.
The research project “Sustainable Use of Shipbuilding Steel (NaSchiff)” will address this challenge starting on October 1. “Many people are unaware that maintaining steel ships, and museum ships in particular, is very expensive,” says Nils Theinert, who initiated the project for the DSM together with Managing Director Prof. Dr. Ruth Schilling and the IWT.
“The project enables us to test the latest thermographic measurement methods, which allow conclusions to be drawn about the condition of the underwater hull. This will enable maritime cultural assets to be preserved more sustainably and cost-effectively in the future,” hopes Theinert, who wrote his doctoral thesis on submarines at the DSM. He followed the emotional reports about the SS UNITED STATES, which, despite decades of appeals for its preservation, is now to be sunk as an artificial reef. After the ship rusted away at its berth for a long time, maintenance is now far too expensive. The UNITED STATES is not an isolated case – time and again, museum ships have to be scrapped because the cost-intensive measurement and control of corrosion exceeds the budget of many museums and voluntary associations. Regular visits to the shipyard are necessary, which require a lot of preparation and cost a lot of money.
The most recent example is the ELBE 3 lightship. An examination of the underwater hull by divers in 2019 initially revealed that the steel skin was still solid – four years later, the entire underwater hull had to be extensively and expensively renovated. There are currently ten ships and thirteen larger metal objects in the museum harbor.
"The idea behind ‘NaSchiff’ is to develop innovative, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective methods for preserving museum ships. For the first time ever, these methods are being tested on one of our ships – the RAU IX. The whaling ship is due to undergo shipyard maintenance next year, which we hope to be able to prepare well for with the help of research and avoid surprises such as in the case of the ELBE 3 in the future," says Prof. Dr. Ruth Schilling, managing director of the DSM. “We are combining museum practice, monument preservation, and modern materials research in a way that has never been done before, with a partner we know well,” says Schilling, announcing the collaboration with the IWT. The two Leibniz Institutes already collaborated on research into restoration and conservation methods for the special exhibition “Tooth of the Tides” in 2018. This was followed in 2020 by the project “Digital Materialities. Virtual and Analog Forms of Exhibiting Museum Artefacts,” for which scans and X-rays of museum objects were created.
The IWT has been investigating highly stressed metallic structural materials since 1950. The focus of the project is on developing a measurement method for determining the hull wall thickness over a large area.
This is to be achieved through the use of active infrared thermography. This is a non-destructive testing method in which a surface is specifically thermally excited (heated) in order to detect internal defects and cracks, for example.
The method is to be used to assess steel hulls from the inside over a large area for corrosion damage on the outside of a ship – without the need for divers or costly exposure. “The method has established itself, for example, in the non-destructive testing of composite materials for delamination (detachment of fiber laminates). In the course of the work, state-of-the-art measurement technology meets a relic from a bygone era. I am therefore very excited about the first measurement results,” says Dr. Andree Irretier from the IWT.
The tests focus on the former whaling ship RAU IX, built in 1939, which is currently awaiting repair in the New Harbor. The new measurement methods can be directly compared with the actual damage to the hull – a major benefit for research and restoration practice.
The nine-month project is being funded with €168,568 from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). “The plan is to use innovative methods such as infrared and laser thermography to assess the condition of museum ships more affordably and with less effort,” says DBU specialist Constanze Fuhrmann. The aim is to identify potential weak points early and reliably, especially in areas that are difficult to access, without destroying the substance. Fuhrmann: “This allows conservation measures to be planned in a more informed, targeted and resource-efficient manner.”
The results obtained from the examination of the RAU IX will be used for other museum ships. “I am delighted that we will be pioneers in this new process, which has so far only been tested on a rocket in the Deutsches Museum. In the long term, it will help us to preserve museum ships more cost-effectively and efficiently,” says Theinert.
Nils Theinert
N.Theinert@dsm.museum
https://www.dsm.museum/en/press-area/materials-research-trend-meets-historic-wha...
Whaler RAU IX
Source: Dr. Lars Kröger
Copyright: DSM / Dr. Lars Kröger
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Environment / ecology, Materials sciences, Oceanology / climate
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