Nickel alloys, environment-alloy

Metallic materials with the exception of noble metals are also thermodynamically not stable in the acidic environment under the PEFC operating conditions and therefore subject to corrosion. Nevertheless, many different metals such as stainless steels, aluminum, aluminum composites, copper, nickel and nickel alloys, titanium alloys and even highly corrosion resistant materials used in chemical industry such as tantalum, hafnium, niobium or zirconium have been investigated with respect to applicability in PEFC with respect to corrosion resistance [68—71]. 

Tips of platinum, platinum—nickel alloy, or iridium can be resistance-welded to spark-plug electrodes for improved reHabiHty and increased lifetime. These electrodes are exposed to extremely hostile environments involving spark erosion, high temperature corrosion, thermal shock, and thermal fatigue. 

Selective removal of nickel from copper alloys is common. However, denickelification does not commonly cause the affected component to fail. Rather, the liberated nickel may deposit downstream and/or be released into the environment. 

A high-nickel alloy is used for increased strength at elevated temperature, and a chromium content in excess of 20% is desired for corrosion resistance. An optimum composition to satisfy the interaction of stress, temperature, and corrosion has not been developed. The rate of corrosion is directly related to alloy composition, stress level, and environment. The corrosive atmosphere contains chloride salts, vanadium, sulfides, and particulate matter. Other combustion products, such as NO, CO, CO2, also contribute to the corrosion mechanism. The atmosphere changes with the type of fuel used. Fuels, such as natural gas, diesel 2, naphtha, butane, propane, methane, and fossil fuels, will produce different combustion products that affect the corrosion mechanism in different ways. 

Tantalum has a degree of corrosion resistance similar to that of glass therefore, it can be used in environments for which glass is required but without the risk of fracture and for purposes of heat transfer. The thermal conductivity of the metal is similar to that of nickel and nickel alloys. 

Nickel alloys Hydrogen sulfide-containing aqueous environments... 

Steel is the most common constructional material, and is used wherever corrosion rates are acceptable and product contamination by iron pick-up is not important. For processes at low or high pH, where iron pick-up must be avoided or where corrosive species such as dissolved gases are present, stainless steels are often employed. Stainless steels suffer various forms of corrosion, as described in Section 53.5.2. As the corrosivity of the environment increases, the more alloyed grades of stainless steel can be selected. At temperatures in excess of 60°C, in the presence of chloride ions, stress corrosion cracking presents the most serious threat to austenitic stainless steels. Duplex stainless steels, ferritic stainless steels and nickel alloys are very resistant to this form of attack. For more corrosive environments, titanium and ultimately nickel-molybdenum alloys are used. 

Pitting of nickel and nickel alloys, as of other metals and alloys, occurs when passivity breaks down at local points on the surface exposed to the corrosive environment, at which points anodic dissolution then proceeds whilst the... 

In practice, pitting of nickel and nickel alloys may be encountered if the corrosive environment contains chloride or other aggressive ions and is more liable to develop in acidic than in neutral or alkaline solutions. In acidic solutions containing high concentrations of chloride, however, passivity is likely to break down completely and corrosion to proceed more or less uniformly over the surface. For this reason nickel and those nickel alloys which rely on passivity for their corrosion resistance are not resistant to HCl. 

Nickel and nickel alloys possess a high degree of resistance to corrosion when exposed to the atmosphere, much higher than carbon and low-alloy steels, although not as high as stainless steels. Corrosion by the atmosphere is, therefore, rarely if ever a factor limiting the life of nickel and nickel alloy structures when exposed to that environment. 

Nickel and nickel alloys possess good resistance to sea-water in conditions where the protective properties of the passive film are fully maintained. As pointed out above, Ni-30 Cu Alloy 400, in contrast to its behaviour in acidic solution, normally forms a protective film in neutral and alkaline environments, including sea-water this alloy and its age hardening variant... 

The corrosion rates of nickel and nickel alloys in pure water and steam at elevated temperatures are generally extremely low, typically of the order of 1 m/year. The metal and its alloys are therefore often selected for service in these environments in circumstances where contamination of the water by metal ions is to be avoided. It should be noted, however, that the possibility of stress corrosion may need to be taken into account in certain circumstances (see below). Additionally where phosphate water treatment has been used in PWR secondary heat exchangers, severe localised corrosion has occurred when alkaline phosphates have been permitted to accumulate . 

As with alloys of other metals, nickel alloys may suffer stress-corrosion cracking in certain corrosive environments, although the number of alloy environment combinations in which nickel alloys have been reported to undergo cracking is relatively small. In addition, intergranular attack due to grain boundary precipitates may be intensified by tensile stress in the metal in certain environments and develop into cracking. Table 4.28 lists the major circumstances in which stress corrosion or stress-assisted corrosion of nickel and its alloys have been recorded in service and also shows the preventive and remedial measures that have been adopted, usually with success, in each case. 

As will have become apparent, nickel and corrosion-resistant nickel alloys have wide ranges of application, particularly in industries where strongly acidic, strongly alkaline or strongly saline environments are encountered. Table 4.29 lists some of the more important applications in those industries where these conditions most frequently arise, i.e. in the chemical, petrochemical, oil and gas, nuclear and conventional power generating, textile, paper, marine, desalination and food processing industries. The list is by no means exhaustive and there are many other applications of a similar nature in these and other industries. The table should, nevertheless, serve... 

Sulphur attack on nickel-chromium alloys and nickel-chromium-iron alloys can arise from contamination by deposits resulting from the combustion of solid fuels, notably high-sulphur coals and peat. This type of corrosion, which has been observed on components of aircraft, marine and industrial gas turbines and air heaters, has been associated with the presence of metal-sulphate and particularly sodium sulphate arising directly from the fuel or perhaps by reaction between sodium chloride from the environment with sulphur in the fuel. Since such fuels are burned with an excess of air, corrosion occurs under conditions that are nominally oxidising although the deposits themselves may produce locally reducing conditions. 

Metal dusting usually occurs in high carbon activity environments combined with a low oxygen partial pressure where carburisation and graphi-tisation occur. Usually pits develop which contain a mixture of carbon, carbides, oxide and metal (Fig. 7.52). Hochmann" proposed that dusting occurs as the result of metastable carbide formation in the high carbon activity gas mixture which subsequently breaks down into metal plus free carbon. The dependence of the corrosion resistance of these nickel alloys on the protective oxide him has been described accelerated or internal oxidation occurs only under conditions that either prevent the formation, or lead to the disruption, of this him. In many petrochemical applications the pO is too low to permit chromia formation (ethylene furnaces for example) so that additions of silicon" or aluminium are commonly made to alloys to improve carburisation resistance (Fig. 7.53). 

For aggressive conditions it may be advantageous to use one of the many high-nickel alloys available. The high cost of such alloys may be economically beneficial although some of the alloys are subject to stress-corrosion cracking, but in a more restricted range of environments than the lower nickel alloys that they would replace. 

Low-carbon and chromium-nickel steels, certain copper, nickel and aluminium alloys (which are all widely used in marine and offshore engineering) are liable to exhibit stress-corrosion cracking whilst in service in specific environments, where combinations of perhaps relatively modest stress levels in material exposed to environments which are wet, damp or humid, and in the presence of certain gases or ions such as oxygen, chlorides, nitrates, hydroxides, chromates, nitrates, sulphides, sulphates, etc. 

Redmond CK. 1984. Site-specific cancer mortality among workers involved in the production of high nickel alloys In Sunderman FW Jr, Aitio A, Berlin A, eds. Nickel in the human environment. lARC scientific publication no. 53. Lyon, France International Agency for Research on Cancer 73-86. 

Nickel alloyed with iron is known as Invar, Pernifer 36 and Magnifer and their composition is given in Table 4.35. The alloys have moderately good corrosion resistance to a variety of industrial environments. Alloy with 80% nickel, iron and molybdenum is used as inductive components in transformers, circuit breakers,... 

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