Expanite – the Danish pioneer of surface hardening of stainless steel and titanium delivers with the ExpaniteHard-Ti, the solution for the development of an autonomous underwater winch of the Alfred Wegener Institute. The special winch is a key component and will provide continuous physical and biogeochemical data from the surface of the Arctic Ocean in the area of the Fram Strait.
The winch will hover at a depth of about 150 meters on a long, anchored rope that rises vertically in the water and from this position once a day a measuring unit with different sensors will rise to the water surface and catch up again. The sensors will measure the water temperature, the salt, oxygen and carbon dioxide content as well as the chlorophyll fluorescence in the different water layers during the test run through the water column.
With the ExpaniteHard-Ti surface hardening, the stressed titanium components will withstand significant wear and thus prevent long-term use of the winch system. In addition to the increased surface hardening of up to 1.000 HV, the corrosion resistance of the material is improved at the same time, and use in seawater is made possible.
