Nickel in elemental form or alloyed with other metals and materials has made significant contributions to our present-day society and promises to continue to supply materials for an even more demanding future.
Nickel has been used in alloys that date back to the dawn of civilization. Chemical analysis of artifacts has shown that weapons, tools, and coins contain nickel in varying amounts.
Heat-Resistant Applications. Nickel-base alloys are used in many applications where they are subjected to harsh environments at high temperatures. Nickel-chromium alloys or alloys that contain more than about 15% Cr are used to provide both oxidation and carburization resistance at temperatures exceeding 760°C.
Corrosion Resistance. Nickel-base alloys offer excellent corrosion resistance to a wide range of corrosive media. However, as with all types of corrosion, many factors influence the rate of attack. The corrosive media itself is the most important factor governing corrosion of a particular metal.
Low-Expansion Alloys Nickel was found to have a profound effect on the thermal expansion of iron. Alloys can be designed to have a very low thermal expansion or display uniform and predictable expansion over certain temperature ranges.
Iron-36% Ni alloy (Invar) has the lowest expansion of the Fe-Ni alloys and maintains nearly constant dimensions during normal variations in atmospheric temperature.
The addition of cobalt to the nickel-iron matrix produces alloys with a low coefficient of expansion, a constant modulus of elasticity, and high strength.
Electrical Resistance Alloys. Several alloy systems based on nickel or containing high nickel contents are used in instruments and control equipment to measure and regulate electrical characteristics (resistance alloys) or are used in furnaces and appliances to generate heat (heating alloys).
Soft Magnetic Alloys. Two broad classes of magnetically soft materials have been developed in the Fe-Ni system. The high-nickel alloys (about 79% Ni with 4 to 5% Mo; bal Fe) have high initial permeability and low saturation induction.
Shape Memory Alloys.Metallic materials that demonstrate the ability to return to their previously defined shape when subjected to the appropriate heating schedule are referred to as shape memory alloys. Nickel-titanium alloys (50Ni-50Ti) are one of the few commercially important shape memory alloys.
The commercial forms of nickel and nickel-base alloys are fully austenitic and are used/selected mainly for their resistance to high temperature and aqueous corrosion.
Commercially Pure and Low-Alloy Nickels. Nickel is supplied to the producers of nickel alloys in powder, pellets, or anode forms. This has led to a whole series ofalloy modifications, with controlled compositions having nickel contents ranging from about 94% to virtually 100%.
These materials are characterized by high density, offering magnetic and electronic property capabilities. They also offer excellent corrosion resistance to reducing environments, along with reasonable thermal transfer characteristics. Some nickels of commercial importance include: Nickel 200, Nickel 201, Nickel 205, Nickel 270 and 290, Permanickel Alloy 300, Duranickel Alloy 301.
Nickel-copper alloys have been found to possess excellent corrosion resistance in reducing chemical environments and in sea water, where they deliver excellent service in nuclear submarines and various surface vessels. By changing the various proportions of nickel and copper in the alloy, a whole series of alloys with different electrical resistivities and Curie points can be created. Some nickel-copper alloys of commercial importance include: Alloy 400 (66% Ni, 33% Cu), Alloy R-405, Alloy K-500.
· Nimonic alloys (80Ni-20Cr + Ti/Al).
The 800 alloy series offers excellent strength at elevated temperature (creep and stress rupture).
· 20Mo-4 and 20Mo-6 (Fe-36Ni-23Cr-5Mo + Cu). Increased corrosion resistance in pulp and paper industry environments.
The 900 alloy series offers very unusual characteristics and properties. Alloys 903, 907, and 909 were all designed to provide high strength and low coefficient of thermal expansion for applications up to 650 °C.
Nickel-lron Low-Expansion Alloys. This series of alloys plays a very important role in both the lamp industry and electronics, where glass-to-metal seals in encapsulated components are important. The nickel alloys are chosen for a variety of reasons.
· Alloy 52 (Fe-51.5Ni). This alloy has a thermal expansion that closely matches vitreous potash-soda-lead glass.
Soft Magnetic Alloys. The nickel-iron alloys also offer an interesting set of magnetic permeability properties, which have played an important part in switchgear and for direct current (dc) motor and generator designs.
Welding Alloys. Welding products for nickel alloys have similar compositions to the base metals, although additions of aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and other elements are made to the filler metals and welding electrodes to ensure proper deoxidation of the molten weld pool and to over-come any hot-short cracking and malleability problems.