History of nickel

Since the 19th century, there has been a growing interest in nickel-copper alloys with high ductility, valuable electrical properties, and corrosion resistance. Monel and cunial of this group of alloys have found the widest practical application. They stand out among structural materials by their high chemical resistance in water, hot gas environments, strong alkalis and acids. Nickel tends to dissolve other metals without losing its properties, making the alloys heat resistant and ductile. This property has produced a large number of nickel alloys that have a number of advantages. Nickel forms solid solutions with other metals, which are characterized by ferromagnetism, high corrosion resistance in gas and liquid aggressive environments. Alloys do not have allotropic transformations.

Ferromagnetics

Ferromagnetics (40-85% Ni + Fe) play an important role in technology. They belong to the class of magnetically soft materials. Among them there are grades with high value of magnetic permeability - permalloy; constancy, qualities under changing external conditions - perminvar; high magnetic permeability and maximum magnetic saturation - permenorm. Such grades are widely used in almost all fields of technology, where high sensitivity of working elements to fluctuations in the magnetic field is needed.

Magnetostrictive materials

Nickel alloys containing 4-18% nickel alloyed with cobalt are classified as magnetostrictive materials. These grades have high corrosion resistance in sea and river water. As a rule, they are widely used for manufacturing of hydroacoustic equipment. With the advent of the twentieth century and the development of electrical engineering, a new class of nickel alloys was developed. The heat resistance of this metal in air is very high, but it can be improved by Cr, Si, Al.

Thermocouples

Nickel alloyed with Si, Al, Mn and alloyed with 10% Cr has heat resistance combined with thermoelectric properties. The most common thermocouples are chromel-alumel thermocouples and are used in laboratory and industrial applications. Copel and chromel thermocouples are also used.

Sealed contact

Nickel alloys with 45-55% Ni alloyed with Co or Cu, are in demand for hermetic contacts between glass and metal. They have almost the same coefficient of linear thermal expansion as glass.

Thermal electrode materials

Nichromes. are heat resistant and are widely used in electrical engineering. But still particularly popular are nichromes with a nickel content of about 80%. They were considered the most heat-resistant industrial alloys, but only until the advent of chromals. In order to make nichromes cheaper, the nickel content was reduced, and so ferronichromes were born. In ferronichromes, most of the nickel is replaced by iron. The most common composition contains 60% Ni, 15% Cr, 25% Fe.

Ferronichromes. Compared to nichromes, ferronichromes have a lower operating resistance and are used at lower temperatures. It is worth noting that both nichromes and ferronichromes have a very high electrical resistance of approximately 1.05-1.4 μOhm-m2/m. Together with chromals they are part of the most important classes of alloys that are used to make high-temperature electric heaters. As a rule, nichromes that are alloyed with silicon, up to about 1.5%, are used together with metals such as rare-earth and alkaline-earth metals. The operating temperature limit for this type of nichrome is 1200 °C, and for some grades up to 1250 °C. Nichromes compete with heat-resistant grades that contain 15-30% Cr and up to 4% Al. But chrome alloys alloyed with aluminum are much more difficult to produce a uniform band or wire for reliable operation of electric heaters. Such materials serve as the basis for heat-resistant parts not subjected to heavy mechanical loads with permissible operating temperatures up to 1250 °C.

Construction grades.

Nimonics. During the 2nd World War in Great Britain they started to produce Nimonics - heat-resistant alloys Ni - Cr - Ti - Al. Special strength is achieved by alloying with chromium, titanium (2.5%) and aluminum (1.2%). Nimonics are superior to nichrome and alloy steels in terms of heat resistance. Before that time, steels were used that were capable of working at 750-800°С. The emergence of nimonics opened the era of aircraft gas turbine engines. In a short time a large number of complexly alloyed alloys were created, which belong to nimonics. They are alloyed with Ti, Al, Nb, Ce, La, B, Zr. Their operating temperature reaches 1000°C... The quality of the alloys is adversely affected by complex alloying - the ability of the alloys to be hot pressed is impaired. It should be noted that wrought and alloyed cast nickel alloys, gained their recognition precisely because of their high heat resistance. But the cast is not exactly a homogeneous structure, which can vary the properties. To find the optimal composition, refractory oxides of thorium, zirconium and aluminum, as well as other compounds, were introduced into the alloy. The best was a nickel alloy with highly dispersed thorium oxides.

Alloying

Nickel steels alloyed with elements such as Mn, Cr, and Mo play a very important role in technology. These steels have valuable electrotechnical properties: high electrical resistance, low value of the coefficient of thermal expansion and, when paired with copper, have a small value of thermo-EDC. These grades are inferior to manganine in the value of the coefficient of thermal electrical resistance in the range of room temperatures, but have 3-4 times greater specific electrical resistance. These nickel steels are used for small-sized resistive elements where constant electrical properties are required throughout the service life. These elements are made of thin foil or wire with a thickness of 5 to 20 microns. Ni - Cr or Ni - Mo alloys are used to manufacture small-sized strain gauges. In these alloys there is a linear dependence of change in electrical resistance on the value of elastic deformation.

Industrial Chemistry

Chemical equipment often operates in corrosive environments of various concentrations of sulfuric, hydrochloric and phosphoric acids at temperatures close to the boiling point. Ni - Cr - Mo and Ni - Mo alloys are known abroad as halsteloy and remanite. In USSR these nickel alloys are known under the brand names H70M28, Kh15N65M16V, H70M28F, Kh15N55M16V. Their corrosion resistance is superior to all known steels.

Supplier

Supplier "Auremo" offers to buy nickel alloys today on favorable terms. Large selection in stock. Conformity to GOST and international quality standards. Always in stock nickel alloys, the price is optimal from the supplier. In practice, many nickel alloys and with Fe, and Mo, and Cr, as well as other elements that give the rolled products the desired combination of mechanical properties. Thus, resilient nickel alloys for springs and hard nickel alloys for dies are produced. Buy nickel alloys today. To wholesale customers the price is preferential.