Nickel alloy, also known as nickel-based alloy, is an alloy based on nickel and adding other elements. The Monel alloy containing about 30% copper, produced around 1905, is an earlier nickel alloy. Nickel has good mechanical, physical and chemical properties. Adding appropriate elements can improve its oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, high temperature strength and improve certain physical properties. Nickel alloys can be used as materials for electron tubes, precision alloys (magnetic alloys, precision resistance alloys, electrothermal alloys, etc.), nickel-based high-temperature alloys, nickel-based corrosion-resistant alloys, and shape memory alloys. Nickel alloys are widely used in sectors such as energy development, chemicals, electronics, navigation, aviation and aerospace.
Divided according to use:
① Nickel-based high-temperature alloys. The main alloying elements are chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, aluminum, titanium, boron, zirconium, etc. Among them, chromium plays an antioxidant and anti-corrosion role, and other elements play a strengthening role. It has high strength and resistance to oxidation and gas corrosion at high temperatures of 650-1000°C. It is the most widely used alloy with the highest high-temperature strength among high-temperature alloys. Used to manufacture aerospace engine blades and high-temperature components in rocket engines, nuclear reactors, and energy conversion equipment.
②Nickel-based corrosion-resistant alloy. The main alloying elements are copper, chromium and molybdenum. It has good comprehensive performance and can resist various acid corrosion and stress corrosion. The earliest application was nickel-copper alloy, also known as Monel alloy; in addition, there are nickel-chromium alloy, nickel-molybdenum alloy, nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy, etc. Used to manufacture various corrosion-resistant parts.
③Nickel-based wear-resistant alloy. The main alloying elements are chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten, and also contain small amounts of niobium, tantalum, and indium. In addition to its wear resistance, it also has good anti-oxidation, corrosion resistance and welding properties. It can be used to manufacture wear-resistant parts, and can also be used as a coating material to cover the surface of other base materials through surfacing and spraying processes.
④ Nickel-based precision alloy. Including nickel-based soft magnetic alloy, nickel-based precision resistance alloy and nickel-based electrothermal alloy, etc. The most commonly used soft magnetic alloy is Permalloy, which contains about 80% nickel. It has high maximum magnetic permeability and initial magnetic permeability and low coercive force. It is an important iron core material in the electronics industry. The main alloying elements of nickel-based precision resistance alloy are chromium, aluminum, and copper. This alloy has high resistivity, low temperature coefficient of resistivity and good corrosion resistance, and is used to make resistors. Nickel-based electric heating alloy is a nickel alloy containing 20% ??chromium. It has good anti-oxidation and anti-corrosion properties and can be used for a long time at temperatures of 1000 to 1100°C.
⑤ Nickel-based shape memory alloy. Nickel alloy containing 50(at)% titanium. Its recovery temperature is 70°C and its shape memory effect is good. A small change in the proportion of nickel-titanium components can change the recovery temperature within the range of 30 to 100°C.
It is mostly used to manufacture automatic opening structural parts used in spacecraft, self-exciting fasteners used in the aerospace industry, artificial heart motors used in biomedicine, etc.