Nickel-base alloys combat corrosion

The modern chemical process industry must increase production efficiency to remain competitive. Manufacturers typically meet this challenge by utilizing higher temperatures and pressures, and more-corrosive catalysts. At the same time, the industry has to solve the technical and commercial problems resulting from rigid environmental regulations. To overcome these obstacles, new alloys having higher levels of corrosion resistance have been developed. These materials are based on increased understanding of the physical metallurgy of nickel-base alloys, especially the role of alloying elements. Results of many studies have led to innovations in nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloys containing both high and low amounts of nickel. Higher molybdenum and chromium contents, together with nitrogen additions, have opened up an entirely new class of alloys having unique properties. In addition, a new chromium-base, fully wrought super stainless steel shows excellent promise in solving many corrosion problems. These newer alloys have the ability to combat uniform corrosion, localized corrosion, and stress-corrosion cracking in the harsh halogenic environment of the chemical process industry. This article briefly lists some of the major highlights and corrosion data on recent nickel-chromium-molybdenum and nickel-molybdenum alloys, and the development of a chromium-base, wrought super-austenitic alloy known as Nicrofer 3033 (Alloy 33). Some comparisons with existingmore » alloys are presented, along with a few commercial applications.« less