Nickel hardness

Another version of the dewatering screw that has been used successfully in a number of installations (Figure 40) consists of an inclined screw with a box-like back end and an internal overflow weir. The drive is usually a variable-speed motor reducer. Rotary air lock fitted with a variable-speed drive is typically used as shown in Figure 37 in connection with the plain receiving tank and an inclined screw conveyor. Materials of construction can be chrome-plated cast iron or nickel-hard casing. The rotary valve is made of hard faced tips or stainless steel replaceable blades. 

Copper-tin deposits can be plated from cyanide or pyrophosphate -baths and deposits are of good corrosion resistance (approximately equivalent to the same thickness of nickel). Hardness values of up to 314 Hy are obtainable for the copper-rich alloys , and up to 530 Hy for the tin-rich alloys can be obtained. (See also Section 13.5.)... 

Generally speaking, the wear behavior of nickel, depending on the composition and hardness, almost reaches the wear behavior of hard chrome. Usually galvanized mold inserts for injection molding are used with a nickel hardness of 44 to 48 HRC. For other applications, such as in the aviation industry or in the slush technology, sulfamate nickel is used with a hardness of about 25 HRC. 

Chromium electroplating is also used as decorative and hard coatings. Colored and tarnish-resistant chromium decorative coatings are produced over a base deposit of copper and/or nickel for applications such as those noted above for nickel. Hard chromium coatings are used for hydraulic pistons and cylinders, piston rings, aircraft engine parts, and plastic molds, where resistance to wear, heat abrasion, and/or corrosion are required. 

The metal looks like iron it exists in four allotropic modifications, stable over various temperature ranges. Although not easily attacked by air. it is slowly attacked by water and dissolves readily in dilute acids to give manganese(II) salts. The stable form of the metal at ordinary temperatures is hard and brittle—hence man ganese is only of value in alloys, for example in steels (ferroalloys) and with aluminium, copper and nickel. 

Nickel is silvery white and takes on a high polish. It is hard, malleable, ductile, somewhat ferromagnetic, and a fair conductor of heat and electricity. It belongs to the iron-cobalt group of metals and is chiefly valuable for the alloys it forms. 

Gobalt is a brittle, hard metal, resembling iron and nickel in appearance. It has a metallic permeability of about two thirds that of iron. Gobalt tends to exist as a mixture of two allotropes over a wide temperature range. The transformation is sluggish and accounts in part for the wide variation in reported data on physical properties of cobalt. 

Under severe conditions and at high temperatures, noble metal films may fail by oxidation of the substrate base metal through pores in the film. Improved life may be achieved by first imposing a harder noble metal film, eg, rhodium or platinum—iridium, on the substrate metal. For maximum adhesion, the metal of the intermediate film should ahoy both with the substrate metal and the soft noble-metal lubricating film. This sometimes requires more than one intermediate layer. For example, silver does not ahoy to steel and tends to lack adhesion. A flash of hard nickel bonds weh to the steel but the nickel tends to oxidize and should be coated with rhodium before applying shver of 1—5 p.m thickness. This triplex film then provides better adhesion and gready increased corrosion protection. 

Tables 1 and 2, respectively, Hst the properties of manganese and its aHotropic forms. The a- and P-forms are brittle. The ductile y-form is unstable and quickly reverses to the a-form unless it is kept at low temperature. This form when quenched shows tensile strength 500 MPa (72,500 psi), yield strength 250 MPa (34,800 psi), elongation 40%, hardness 35 Rockwell C (see Hardness). The y-phase may be stabilized usiag small amounts of copper and nickel. Additional compilations of properties and phase diagrams are given ia References 1 and 2.

Another important function of metallic coatings is to provide wear resistance. Hard chromium, electroless nickel, composites of nickel and diamond, or diffusion or vapor-phase deposits of sUicon carbide [409-21-2], SiC , SiC tungsten carbide [56780-56-4], WC and boron carbide [12069-32-8], B4C, are examples. Chemical resistance at high temperatures is provided by aUoys of aluminum and platinum [7440-06-4] or other precious metals (10—14). 

Niobium carbide is used as a component of hard metals, eg, mixtures of metal carbides that are cemented with cobalt, iron, and nickel. Along with tantalum carbide, niobium carbide is added to impart toughness and shock and erosion resistance. The spiraling rise in the price of tantalum has spurred the development of a hafnium carbide—niobium carbide substitute for tantalum carbide (68). These cemented carbides are used for tool bits, drill bits, shovel teeth, and other wear-resistant components turbine blades and as dies in high pressure apparatus (see Carbides). 

Alloying elements such as nickel, chromium, molybdenum, and copper, which may be introduced with scrap, can increase the hardenability, although only slightly, because the concentrations are ordinarily low. However, the heat-treating characteristics may change, and for appHcations in which ductihty is important, as in low carbon steels for deep drawing, the increased hardness and lower ductiHty imparted by these elements may be harmful. 

An important item in this array of matenals is the class known as maraging steels. This group of high nickel martensitic steels contain so Htde carbon that they are often referred to as carbon-free iron—nickel martensites (54). Carbon-free iron—nickel martensite with certain alloying elements is relatively soft and ductile and becomes hard, strong, and tough when subjected to an aging treatment at around 480°C. 

---