It has always been said that a metallurgical failure could have been one of the major causes of Titanics dramitic sinking. Since September 1st 1985, when Robert Ballard found the Titanic wreckage in 3,700m of water on the ocean floor, salvage work has gone on to try and uncover the reasons behind the ships sinking, and whether the quality of the steel really was good enough. During the 1998 expedition, the recovery of a 20 tonne piece of steel from the ships hull meant that in depth chemical and metallurgical tests could be carried out on Titanic's steel.
In this report I will be looking at some of the results of these tests, and forming conclusions about whether Titanic could have avoided disaster, had the steel been of better quality. In my conclusions I will also answer the question of how metallurgists would design a material for the ships hull today.
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