This article covers the current state of materials development of nickel-base superalloys for additive manufacturing (AM) processes and the associated challenges. The discussion focuses on nickel-base superalloy fusion AM processes, providing information on typically encountered cracking mechanisms in AM nickel-base superalloys, such as solid-solution-strengthened nickel-base superalloys and precipitate-strengthened nickel-base superalloys. The mechanisms include solidification cracking, strain-age cracking, liquation cracking, and ductility-dip cracking. The article also provides a short discussion on binder jet AM and powder recyclability.

This article provides a brief introduction to abrasive wear-resistant coating materials that contain a large amount of hard phases, such as borides, carbides, or carboborides. It describes some of the commonly used methods of producing thick wear-resistant coatings. The article also provides information on metal-matrix composites and cemented carbides. The three base-alloying concepts, including cobalt-, iron-, and nickel-base alloys used for wear-protection applications, are also described. The article compares the tribomechanical properties of the materials in a qualitative manner, thus allowing a rough materials selection for practitioners. It presents a brief discussion on hot isostatic pressing (HIP) cladding, sinter cladding, and manufacturing of thick wear-resistant coatings by extrusion or ring rolling. The article also discusses the processing sequence of thick wear-resistant coatings, namely, compound casting, deposition welding, and thermal spraying.

Hardfacing refers to the deposition of a specially selected material onto a component in order to reduce wear in service as a preventative measure or return a worn component to its original dimensions as a repair procedure. This article provides information on various hardfacing materials, namely, iron-base overlays, chromium carbide-based overlays, nickel- and cobalt-base alloys, and tungsten carbide-based metal-matrix composite overlays. It discusses the types of hardfacing processes, such as arc welding processes, and laser cladded, oxyacetylene brazing and vacuum brazing processes. The arc welding processes include shielding metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding/flux cored arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, submerged arc welding, and plasma transferred arc welding. The article also reviews various factors influencing the selection of the appropriate hardfacing for specific applications.

This article describes the different types of precipitation and transformation processes and their effects that can occur during heat treatment of various nonferrous alloys. The nonferrous alloys are aluminum alloys, copper alloys, magnesium alloys, nickel alloys, titanium alloys, cobalt alloys, zinc alloys, and heat treatable silver alloys, gold alloys, lead alloys, and tin alloys. It also provides a detailed discussion on the effects due to precipitation and transformation processes in these non-ferrous alloys.

This article provides information on nickel alloying elements, and the heat treatment processes of various nickel alloys for applications requiring corrosion resistance and/or high-temperature strength. These processes are homogenization, annealing, solution annealing, solution treating, stabilization treatment, age hardening, stress relieving, and stress equalizing. Discussion of furnaces, fixtures, and atmospheres is included. Nickel alloys used for the heat treatment processes include corrosion-resistant nickel alloys, heat-resistant nickel alloys, nickel-beryllium alloys, special-purpose alloys such as nitinol shape memory alloys, low-expansion alloys, electrical-resistance alloys and soft magnetic alloys. Finally, the article focuses on heat treatment modeling for selecting the appropriate heat treatment process.

This article discusses the methods for producing powder metallurgy (PM) nickel powders, including carbonyl process, hydrometallurgical process, hydrogen reduction process, and atomization process, as well as their applications. It describes three processes for producing nickel alloy powders: water atomization, high-pressure water atomization, and gas atomization. The article also provides information on the applications of PM hot isostatic pressing in the oil and gas industry.

Electroslag welding (ESW) involves high energy input relative to other welding processes, resulting generally in inferior mechanical properties and specifically in lower toughness of the heat-affected zone. Electrogas welding (EGW) is a method of gas metal or flux cored arc welding, wherein an external gas is supplied to shield the arc, and molding shoes are used to confine the molten weld metal for vertical-position welding. This article describes the fundamentals, temperature relations, consumables, metallurgical and chemical reactions, and process development of ESW. The problems, quality control, and process applications of ESW and EGW are also discussed.

This article describes the process features, advantages, limitations, and applications of the flux cored arc welding (FCAW) as well as the equipment used in the process. Base metals, namely, carbon and low-alloy steels, stainless steels, and nickel-base alloys, welded by the FCAW process are reviewed. The article illustrates the manufacturing process for the electrodes used in FCAW and outlines the classification of carbon and low-alloy steel, stainless steel, and nickel-base electrodes.

This article presents a table that lists the linear thermal expansion of selected metals and alloys. These include aluminum, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, nickel, tin, titanium, and zinc and their alloys. Thermal expansion is presented for specific temperature ranges.

This article contains a table that lists the thermal conductivity of selected metals and alloys near room temperature. These include aluminum and aluminum alloys; copper and copper alloys; iron and iron alloys; lead and lead alloys; magnesium and magnesium alloys; nickel and nickel alloys; tin and tin alloys; titanium and titanium alloys; zinc and zinc alloys; and pure metals.

This article reviews the melt processing and casting of non-ferrous alloys, such as nickel alloys, titanium alloys, and lead alloys. It describes the lead refining steps, namely, copper drossing, softening, desilvering, zinc removal, bismuth removal, and final refining.

Nickel-base alloy castings are widely used in corrosive-media and high-temperature applications. This article begins with a discussion on the compositions of corrosion-resistant nickel-base casting alloys and heat-resistant nickel-base casting alloys. It describes the effects of aluminum and titanium on the structure and properties of nickel-base alloys. The article provides information on the melting, foundry, and pouring practices for nickel-base alloys. It explains the welding and heat treatment of the nickel-base casting alloys. The article concludes with an overview of the numerous applications of cast heat-resistant nickel-base alloys.

This article tabulates the nominal compositions for nickel and cobalt alloys. It illustrates the comparison of strain-hardening rates of a number of alloys in terms of the increase in hardness with increasing cold reduction. The forming practice for age-hardenable alloys and the lubricants used in the forming processes of nickel and cobalt alloys are also discussed. The article summarizes the modification of tools and dies used for cold forming other metals, as the physical and mechanical properties of nickel and cobalt alloys frequently necessitate it. It discusses forming techniques for these alloys and provides several examples of these techniques, which include shearing, blanking, piercing, deep drawing, spinning, explosive forming, bending, and expanding/tube forming.

This article discusses the materials of construction found in pharmaceutical production facilities. The materials discussed are different stainless steels, nickel and nickel-base alloys, titanium, zirconium, impervious graphite, fluoropolymers, and glass-lined steel. The article describes the three primary causes of failure in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals: embedded iron, failures of glass linings, and corrosion under thermal insulation.

This article describes the control of water chemistry in the steam cycle of a power plant for achieving corrosion control, deposition prevention, and higher cycle efficiency. It discusses the materials requirements of the components exposed to supercritical water in supercritical (SC) and ultrasupercritical (USC) power plants. These components include high-pressure steam piping and headers, superheater and reheater tubing, water wall tubing in the boiler, high-and intermediate-pressure rotors, rotating blades, and bolts in the turbine section. The article reviews the boiler alloys, used in SC and USC boilers, such as ferritic steels, austenitic steels, and nickel-base alloys. It provides information on the materials used in turbine applications such as ferritic rotor steels, turbine blade alloys, and bolting materials. The article explains various factors influencing steamside corrosion in SC power plants. It also deals with the role of overall efficiency in the USC power generation.

True alkaline chemicals include caustic soda or sodium hydroxide (NaOH), caustic potash or potassium hydroxide (KOH), and soda ash or sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). This article reviews alkaline chemicals and provides a basis for a general discussion on various alkaline exposures. It describes the corrosion effects of caustic soda on aluminum and aluminum alloys, iron and steel, carbon and low-alloy steels, stainless steels, high-performance austenitic alloys, nickel and nickel alloys, copper and copper alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, and zirconium and zirconium alloys. The article discusses the corrosion effects of caustic soda on nonmetallic materials: plastics, thermoplastics, thermosetting resin materials, carbon and graphite, and ceramics. It concludes with information on the effects of contamination of and by caustic and of admixtures of caustic with other chemicals, including chlorates, chlorides, chlorine/hypochlorite, mercury, sulfur, and iron.

Materials of construction for equipment and piping in pharmaceutical processing plants must be resistant to corrosion from the high-purity water, the buffer solutions used in preparation of the products, and the cleaning solutions used to maintain the purity of the product. The primary water used in pharmaceutical production is water for injection (WFI). This article presents the steps for preparing WFI and discusses the effect of chlorides on stainless steel. It provides information on the passive layer of stainless steels and chromium-containing nickel alloys. The article provides information on the surface finish of pharmaceutical equipment. It discusses the classification of rouge and the characteristics of cast type 316L stainless steel. The article also explains how and when to perform cleaning and repassivation process on classes of rouge.

Phosphoric acid is less corrosive than sulfuric and hydrochloric acids. This article discusses the corrosion rates of metal alloys in phosphoric acid, including aluminum, carbon steel and cast irons, stainless steels, nickel-rich G-type alloys, copper and copper alloys, nickel alloys, lead, titanium alloys, and zirconium alloys. Nonmetallic materials may be chemically attacked in some corrosive environments, which can result in swelling, hardening, or softening phenomena; extraction of ingredients; chemical conversion of the nonmetallic constituents; cross-linking oxidation; and/or substitution reactions. The article also describes the corrosion resistance of nonmetallic materials such as rubber and elastomeric materials, plastics, carbon and graphite, and ceramic materials.