1. Nickel alloys

Nickel alloys are a family of materials widely used in industries as varied as cryogenics, oil & gas, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pollution control units (desulfurization, VOC treatment), power generation, heat treatment, land turbines and aeronautics... Nickel is obviously the main element in these alloys, and forms their base. The main additive elements are chromium, molybdenum, iron, copper, tungsten and, in smaller quantities, titanium, niobium, aluminum, silicon, zirconium, vanadium and certain rare earth elements (lanthanum, vanadium). They fall into two distinct groups: high-temperature nickel alloys (up to a maximum of 1,200°C) and corrosion-resistant alloys (up to temperatures of 650°C). This distribution is a consequence of the carbon content, which is high (> 0.1%) for "high-temperature" nickel alloys and low (< 0.05%) for the "corrosion" alloys that are the subject...