OceanGate CEO Bragged About Using Expired Carbon Fiber to Build Doomed Sub

jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de to Technology@beehaw.org – 286 points –
OceanGate CEO Bragged About Using Expired Carbon Fiber to Build Doomed Sub
futurism.com

New evidence strongly suggests that OceanGate's submersible, which imploded and killed all passengers on its way to the Titanic wreck, was unfit for the journey. The CEO, Stockton Rush, bought discounted carbon fiber past its shelf life from Boeing, which experts say is a terrible choice for a deep-sea vessel. This likely played a role in the submersible's tragic demise.

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It could have been fresh from the factory and would have had the same result It was an improper application of the material to save on the more expensive titanium Same with the acrylic viewport, while not the best material it's the design that was non-standard Quartz would have been better but more expensive Not the time to cheap out on materials, design, nor experience when lives are on the line

Fresh from the factory might have got away with it, they tried to reuse a vessel that was barely useable for 1 journey and had known material flaws that would have limited the number of pressurisation cycles the craft could have taken.