WICHARD

Warranty

All Wichard products are warranted to be free of defects in materials or workmanship for five (5) years from the date of purchase by the original end-user. Excluded from this warranty are: > Any product which has been improperly fitted. > Any product which has been improperly used or used in any application for which it was not intended. > Any product which has been improperly maintained. > Any product modified without a written approval from Wichard. > Any damage being a consequence from alteration, from ultraviolet light exposure or from the normal wear of products.The useful life of any products is determined by its utilisation and an appropriate factor of safety (see page 54). It must be distinctly assessed in each application. Thus no guarantee can be provided for product life, dynamic capacities or any other factor due to the variability in usage. Wichard’s liability is limited to the repair or replacement of the defective goods exclusive of any other repair. Responsibility and costs of handling, transportation and any custom duties and tariffs linked to the warranty claim are in any case borne by Wichard.

Corrosion in the marine environment Stainless steel

All Wichard products are passivated. Corrosion attacks stainless steel and is always visible in the form of black coloured roughness. Although this is dangerous, it is rarely seen in current use, except in cases where martensitic (HR) steel is in total, prolonged immersion. What many people erroneously call corrosion, is really rust, or oxidation. This is due to outside causes. In the marine environment, stainless steel is subject to considerable aggressive forces and is not totally corrosion free. Re-passivation can be accomplished with a passivator such as Wichinox (see page 30) . All stainless steel demands a minimum of upkeep. Wichard uses top-quality grades of stainless steel in its products (see chart). The first type is a low carbon austenitic steel (316L), which offers good mechanical characteristics. They are non- magnetic steels and most of Wichard products are manufactured in this grade. The second (17.4PH) is martensitic steel (magnetic), which is referred to as high-resistance steel (HR).

Type Austenitic Martensitic Common name 18.12 Mo17.4 PH European Standard X2CrNiMo17-12-2X5CrNiCuNb 16-4 US AISI Standard r 316 L630 Composition:Carbon < 0.03%< 0.07% Chromium 18%16.5% Nickel 12%4% Molybdenum 3%

Why a Wichard shackle?

Copper 4%

A Wichard shackle is manufactured on a very old principal, forging. Wichard has perfected and machined this process down to the smallest detail.

Reliability and high quality

After the row metal bars are checked on chemical alloy and quality, the metal is heated to the right temperature to be forged. Then the metal is pressed in its new shape with great force by a hydraulic hammer. Due to this process the metal obtains an organized structure without any weakness. Because of this structure, called fibers, the metal object is not only very strong but also has an “elastic” property. Casted metal objects of the same design are less strong because the structure in the metal is not the same everywhere in the object. Next to this there is the chance that small air bubbles are enclosed during the casting. This causes a capital weakness in the casted object. Even objects machined from a block of metal can have weaknesses. Where the metal is machined into a curve the structure in the metal is broken and becomes a weak point in the object. When the object is overloaded it will break at this point.

Performance and security

Due to the technique of forging every object of the same design and shape has the same properties with a small tolerance of deviation. By controlling all important factors Wichard can guarantee an accurate breaking load and safe working load for each individual object. Wichard advises to respect carefully the Working Load (WL) indicated for each of its products. If a Wichard product is overloaded between the safe working load and breaking load the product will deform due to its “elastic” property. This gives the user an extra safety margin and shows when the product is overloaded. Deformed parts have to be replaced immediately preferably by a part in a larger size.