Nickel and nickel alloys have an excellent combination of corrosion, oxidation, and heat resistance, combined with good mechanical properties. Nickel alloys can be divided into alloys that combine corrosion and heat resistance, superalloys for high-temperature applications, and special nickel alloys. Corrosion- and heat-resistant nickel alloys include commercially pure and low-alloy nickels, nickel-copper alloys, nickel-molybdenum and nickel-silicon alloys, nickel-chromium-iron alloys, nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloys, and nickel-chromium-iron-molybdenum-copper alloys. Special nickel alloys include electrical-resistance alloys, low-expansion alloys, magnetically soft alloys, and shape memory alloys. This chapter discusses the metallurgy, nominal composition, properties, applications, advantages, and disadvantages of these alloys. It also provides information on cobalt wear-resistant alloys and cobalt corrosion-resistant alloys.

This article discusses the production, properties, and uses of high-alloy white irons. It explains how the composition and melt are controlled to produce a large volume of eutectic carbides, making these irons particularly hard and resistant to wear, and how the metallic matrix supporting the carbide phase can be adjusted via alloy content and heat treatment to optimize the balance between abrasion resistance and impact toughness. It also describes the effect of alloying elements and inoculants on various properties and behaviors and provides information on commercial alloy grades and applications.

This article examines the role of alloying in the production and use of nickel and its alloys. It explains how nickel-base alloys are categorized and lists the most common grades along with their compositional ranges and corresponding UNS numbers. It describes the role of nearly 20 alloying elements and how they influence strength, ductility, hardness, and corrosion resistance. It also addresses processing issues, explaining how alloying and intermetallic phases affect forming, welding, and machining operations.

Nickel-base alloys used for low-temperature aqueous corrosion are commonly referred to as corrosion-resistant alloys (CRAs), and nickel alloys used for high-temperature applications are known as heat-resistant alloys, high-temperature alloys, or superalloys. The emphasis in this chapter is on the CRAs and in particular nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloys. The chapter provides a basic understanding of general welding considerations and describes the welding metallurgy of molybdenum-containing CRAs and of nickel-copper, nickel-chromium, and nickel-chromium-iron CRAs. It discusses the corrosion behavior of nickel-molybdenum alloys and nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloys. Information on the phase stability and corrosion behavior of nickel-base alloys is also included.

This appendix is a collection of tables listing coefficients of linear thermal expansion for carbon and low-alloy steels, presenting a summary of thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and heat capacity; and listing thermal conductivities and specific heats of carbon and low-alloy steels.

Nickel-base castings are produced from a group of alloys with compositions that are typically greater than 50% Ni and less than 10% iron. This chapter presents the casting compositions of nickel-base alloys. It then provides an overview of heat treatment, mechanical properties, and applications of nickel-base castings.

This article covers the metallurgy and properties of gray irons. It describes the classes or grades of gray iron, the types of applications for which they are suited, and the corresponding compositional ranges. It discusses the role of major, minor, and trace elements, how they are added, and how they affect various properties, behaviors, and processing characteristics. It explains how silicon, chromium, and nickel, in particular, improve high-temperature, corrosion, and wear performance.

Steels contain a wide range of elements, including alloys as well as residual processing impurities. This chapter describes the chemical composition of low-alloy AISI steels, which are classified based on the amounts of chromium, molybdenum, and nickel they contain. It explains why manganese is sometimes added to steel and how unintended consequences, such as the development of sulfide stringers, can offset the benefits. It also examines the effect of alloying elements on the iron-carbon phase diagram, particularly their effect on transformation temperatures.

Stainless steels and nickel-base alloys are recognized for their resistance to general corrosion and other categories of corrosion. This chapter examines the effects of specific alloying elements, metallurgical structure, and mechanical conditioning on the corrosion resistance of these alloys. Some categories of corrosion covered are pitting, crevice, intergranular, stress-corrosion cracking, general, and high-temperature corrosion.

This chapter discusses the complex polarization characteristics of active-passive metals and addresses related problems in interpreting their corrosion behavior. It begins by presenting several experimentally derived polarization curves for iron, comparing and contrasting them with the iron-water Pourbaix diagram. It then explains how anodic polarization is extremely sensitive to the environment and, as a result, a reasonably complete curve for a given metal-environment system usually can only be inferred. It goes on to describe how such curves are constructed, demonstrating the procedures for a wide range of alloys and environments. The examples also show how factors such as alloy concentration, crystal lattice orientation, temperature, and dissolved oxygen affect corrosion behavior.

This chapter describes the metallurgy, composition, and properties of steels and other alloys. It provides information on the atomic structure of metals, the nature of alloy phases, and the mechanisms involved in phase transformations, including time-temperature effects and the role of diffusion, nucleation, and growth. It also discusses alloying, heat treating, and defect formation and briefly covers condenser tube materials.

Metallurgy, as discussed in this chapter, focuses on phases normally encountered in stainless steels and their characteristics. This chapter describes the thermodynamics and the three basic phases of stainless steels: ferrite, austenite, and martensite. Formation of the principal intermetallic phases is also covered. In addition, the chapter provides information on carbides, nitrides, precipitation hardening, and inclusions.

This chapter presents the Unified Numbering System (UNS) for metals and alloys.

This article discusses the metallurgy and properties of ductile cast iron. It begins with an overview of ductile or spheroidal-graphite iron, describing the specifications, applications, and compositions. It then discusses the importance of composition control and explains how various alloying elements affect the properties, behaviors, and processing characteristics of ductile iron. The article describes the benefits of nickel and silicon additions in particular detail, explaining how they make ductile iron more resistant to corrosion, heat, and wear.

Nonferrous metals are of commercial interest both as engineering materials and as alloying agents. This chapter addresses both roles, discussing the properties, processing characteristics, and applications of several categories of nonferrous metals, including light metals, corrosion-resistance alloys, superalloys, refractory metals, low-melting-point metals, reactive metals, precious metals, rare earth metals, and metalloids or semimetals. It also provides a brief summary on special-purpose materials, including uranium, vanadium, magnetic alloys, and thermocouple materials.

This article provides an overview of austenitic manganese steels. It describes the standard composition ranges of commercial products and explains how various alloying elements affect mechanical properties, processing, and performance. The article also discusses special grades of manganese steels and the types of applications for which they have been developed.

All materials are susceptible to corrosion or some form of environmental degradation. Although no single material is suitable for all applications, usually there are a variety of materials that will perform satisfactorily in a given environment. The intent of this chapter is to review the corrosion behavior of the major classes of metals and alloys as well as some nonmetallic materials, describe typical corrosion applications, and present some unique weaknesses of various types of materials. It also aims to point out some unique material characteristics that may be important in material selection, and discuss, where appropriate, the characteristic forms of corrosion that attack specific materials. The materials addressed in this chapter include carbon steels, weathering steels, and alloy steels; nickel, copper, aluminum, titanium, lead, magnesium, tin, zirconium, tantalum, niobium, and cobalt and their alloys; polymers; and other nonmetallic materials, including rubber, carbon and graphite, and woods.