Specialist committee V.3 entitled "Materials and Fabrication Technology" of the 18th International Ship and Offshore Structure Congress

After years of growth the global economic crisis has deeply affected the shipping industry. There are however clear signs of recovery in the last year. The shipbuilding industry has realised that, due to the crisis, new innovative designs and design and production methods are necessary to decrease operational costs, production costs and emissions, whilst meeting the changing rules and regulations. In this report ISSC committee V.3 discusses recent development in materials and fabrication technology. Chapter 2 focusses on worldwide trends in materials and fabrication methods. Developments in fabrication technologies, such as welding and corrosion protection are dealt with in Chapter 3. Applications of composite materials are increasing. Some main areas of applications and research in those areas are described in Chapter 4. A comparison of current worldwide standards is made in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 gives an overview of current developments in the linking of design and production in computer applications, thus increasing the efficiency of ship building.