Properties of Nickel Alloys Nickel has always been a vital material for a wide variety of industries

Nickel has always been a vital material for a wide variety of industries for the simple reason that it is a highly versatile material that will alloy with most other metals.

Nickel alloys resist high pressures and temperatures, making them well-suited for high-performance applications such as jet-engine blades. They also resist corrosion. That is why Monel is used in deep-seal mining, where seawater poses a constant threat of corrosion.

Nickel and nickel alloys are non-ferrous metals with high strength and toughness, excellent corrosion resistance, and superior elevated temperature properties. Pure nickel is a bright silver-white metallic element of the iron group and is hard, malleable, and ductile. Pure nickel itself is tough and corrosion resistant and provides an excellent base for developing specialized alloys.

Suitable for a Range of Applications

Its high versatility, combined with its outstanding heat and corrosion resistance has led to its use in a diverse range of applications; such as Aircraft gas turbines, steam turbines in power plants and its extensive use in the energy and nuclear power markets.

High Performance Nickel Alloys

A range of Nickel alloys that fully demonstrate the dazzling array of abilities that Nickel possesses and have catered to businesses of all sizes in every sector. All Nickel alloys offer the utmost strength, durability and reliability amongst the harshest of environments. So whether you need an alloy that offers tremendous corrosion resistance in reducing chemical environments or seawater, remains steadfast in the face of extreme temperatures, (both low and high) or simply a material that is readily weldable even in a hardened condition, we will ensure you that we have the perfect alloy for the job that won't let you down.

Suitable for the Harshest of Environments

Some of the nickel alloys include the RA 330, which is known as the workhorse of austenitic, heat resistant alloys due to its sheer ability to carry on regardless in harsh environments. Allied to the immense strength displayed by the RA 330 it also offers high resistance to carburization and oxidation in temperatures rising to as high as 1150 °C.

One of the most popular alloys is 'Alloy 86', which is that rare breed of metals that has been developed with good workability, ductility and weldability in mind whilst offering high creep strength and an exceptionally good cyclic oxidation resistance at 1050 °C. As it was intended mainly for use in high temperature applications it comes as no surprise that it is a highly sought after for use in heat treatment furnace equipment, afterburner parts and gas turbine combustion chambers.

Nickel Alloys won't Weaken or Perish

Nickel alloys often work in industries that depend on materials that are highly durable and won't weaken or perish. Time is money and you don't want to spend too much of either looking for replacements for parts that just weren't up to the job. Nickel specialises in providing the highest quality Nickel alloys that mean you will no longer need to.

Some Nickel Alloys

Nickel is a versatile metal element that alloys with most other metals. It gives alloys great corrosion resistance and the ability to withstand high temperatures and pressures. Here's a quick look at five of the more common nickel alloys.

Extra-high nickel alloys (Duranickel): These all have more than 94% nickel content. Extra-high nickel alloys that have 4.75% manganese resist sulfidation at high temperatures. Duranickel 301 becomes much stronger if thermally treated, which causes precipitation of submicroscopic particles of Ni3Al and Ti throughout its matrix, a process called precipitation hardening. Duranickel retains excellent spring properties up to 600°F. The corrosion resistance of these alloys is similar to that of commercially pure wrought nickel.

Nickel-molybdenum (Ni-Mo), nickel-molybdenum-chromium (Ni-Mo-Cr) alloys (Hastelloys): Alloys in this category are used for their high strength despite high temperatures and corrosive surroundings. Hastelloy B is known for its resistance to HCl (hydrogen chloride) and for its creep and rupture strength at temperatures around 1,400°F.

Hastelloy C resists active oxidizing agents such as wet CL2 (chlorine), hypochlorite bleach, FeCl3 (iron chloride), and HNO3 (nitric acid). Hastelloy C also resists oxidizing and reducing atmospheres at temperatures up to 2,000°F, and can still carry loads at temperatures to 1,600°F.

Hastelloy C-276 resists pitting, stress corrosion, cracking, and reducing atmospheres as hot at 1,900°F. It also resists formation of grain-boundary precipitates in heat-affected weld zones, so it is suitable for most chemical-process applications in the as-welded condition.

Hastelloy X resists oxidizing at temperatures up to 2,200°F, and retains useful creep and ruptures properties at 1,800°F.

Nickel-molybdenum-chromium-copper (Ni-Mo-Cr-CU) alloys (Illium): Engineers often turn to these alloys, which are mostly cast, for their corrosion resistance. Wrought Illium, for example, is highly resistant to sea water, H2SO4 (sulfuric acid), HNO3 (nitric acid), and H3PO4, (phosphoric acid), as well as many fluorides. Wrought Illium's cast counterpart is Illium G.

Illium B, a cast alloy, is especially resistant to sulfuric acid. It can also have its hardness increased by heat treatment at temperatures from 1,100°F to 1,400°F.

Illium 98 is a casting alloy with much better corrosion resistance than Illium G. Several of these Illium alloys also highly resist wear and abrasion in corrosive environments.

Illium G, a weldable wrought alloy, resists hot sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid.

Nickel-copper alloys (Monel): The most common of these alloys are Monel 400, Monel R-405 (a free-machining alloy), and Monel K-500. The K-500 version can be precipitate-hardened to high levels of strength much like Duranickel.

These NiCu alloys combine ready formability, a wide range of mechanical properties, and high corrosion resistance. They are strong and tough at sub-zero temperatures and are generally free from stress-corrosion cracking. K-500, however, shows a tendency to stress-corrosion cracking when it is precipitation-hardened.

Cast nickel-copper alloys containing 3 to 4% silicon have excellent nongalling and anti-seizing characteristics.

Nickel-chromium (Ni-Cr) and nickel-chromium-iron (Ni-Cr-Fe) superalloys:These Nickel-chromium alloys and nickel-chromium-iron (Ni-Cr-Fe) superalloys, which include Inconel 600 and Inconel 800, are noted for their strength and corrosion resistance at high temperatures. Some of these alloys are derived from the Ni-Cr group by adding aluminum and/or titanium for precipitation hardening. Controlled precipitation hardening of Ni-Cr and Ni-Cr-Fe alloys lets metallurgists increase strength and hardness temperatures to about 1,300°F. Included in this list of precipitation-hardened alloys are 713 C, IN-100, IN-733, MAR-M200, MAM-241, Mar-M432, and wrought alloys Inconel X-750, Rene 41, Rene 95, Waspaloy, Udimet 700, Astroloy, and Udimet 520.

Several of these types of alloys (Inconel 625, IN-102, Udimet620, and RA 383) can be strengthened by adding refractory metals such as molybdenum, tungsten, and columbium. The resulting alloys have good oxidation resistance and strength at high temperatures. They cannot be precipitation- hardened, but they can withstand thousands of hours at temperatures to 1,200°F. Alloys HW and HX (Alloy Casting Institute designations) are typical casting alloys that survive temperatures to 2,000°F.

High Nickel Alloys & Superalloys: This group of alloys are used for their outstanding corrosion and high temperature resistance.  Many are metallurgically related to the austenitic stainless steels but are much more highly alloyed, particularly with nickel, chromium and molybdenum in order to enhance their corrosion resistance.  These alloys are used resist extremely corrosive conditions in the energy, power, chemical and petrochemical industries.

The term "superalloy" is applied to alloys which have outstanding high temperature strength and oxidation resistance.  The nickel-based superalloys contain carefully balanced alloying additions of chromium, cobalt, aluminium, titanium and other elements.  Often components are produced by carefully controlled solidification in order to get an optimum directionally solidified or even single crystal structure.  These components can have strengths at 1000°C which exceed that of ordinary steels at room temperature.  They are essential in the hottest parts of gas turbines both for power generation and aircraft.