This book evaluates the latest developments in nickel alloys and high-alloy special stainless steels by material number, price, wear rate in corrosive media, mechanical and metallurgical characteristics, weldability, and resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion. Nickel Alloys is at the forefront in the search for the most economic solutions to c

This work offers a detailed coverage of iron-nickel alloys after the orginal discovery of Invar R, one hundred years ago.

Nickel is probably the most versatile of the metallic elements. Among alloys containing nickel are some having high corrosion resistance and others that retain excellent strength and ductility from temperatures approaching ab solute zero to those near 2000 F. Some nickel alloys are strongly magnetic, others are virtually nonmagnetic; some have low rates of thermal expansion, others have high rates; some have high electrical resistivities; some have practically constant moduli of elasticity; one has an "elastic" memory. In addition, nickel is magnetostrictive. With this wide range of characteristics, it is not surprising that there are several thousand alloys containing nickel. It is impossible to consider all of these compositions in this publication and, therefore, several alloys in each of a number of categories have been selected to indicate the properties to be expected of the group. Low-alloy and constructional nickel-containing steels have been excluded on two grounds. To do them justice would require excessive space and, in addition, their applications differ generally from these of the materials under discussion. On the other hand, nickel-containing stainkss steels have been included because many of their applications fall into the same areas as those of a number of the high-nickel alloys. Many of the compositions discussed are proprietary alloys and they are protected by trademarks. A list of the trademarks and their owners is in cluded in the appendix.

The physical metallurgy, mechanical properties and weld properties of the binary iron-nickel base alloys designated as Maraging Steels are presented. The primary data obtained during the program consisted of sheet and bar tensile properties as a function of various heat treatments and mill processing variables. Also determined were the fracture toughness parameters corresponding to strength levels produced by the various conditions mentioned above. Secondary data generated included elevated temperature tensile properties, billet and forging properties, room temperature fatigue properties and Charpy impact strengths at cryogenic temperatures. The results of the mechanical properties evaluation indicated that the best combination of fracture toughness and yield strength were offered by the 18% nickel alloys at both the 250 and 300 KSI strength levels. A comparison of the alloys on the basis of weld tensile and fracture toughness properties indicate the 18% nickel alloys as exhibiting superior weldability.