Titanium is basically a white metal. Titanium is very reactive and due to this, it is often employed for alloying and deoxidizing of other metals. As compared to silicon or manganese, Titanium is a more powerful deoxidizer of steel. Compared to steel, Titanium is 40% lighter and 60% heavier than aluminum. This perfect combination of high strength alog with low weight makes Titanium a popular structural metal. Titanium also has excellent corrosion resistance.Titanium along with its alloys provide a remarkable resistance to general localised attack under most severe oxidizing, neutral and inhibited reducing conditions.

Coming to Titanium 1&2 there are primarily 5 grades of what is called as commercially pure or unalloyed titanium. These grades are given by ASTM. Grades range from 1 through 4, and 7. Each grade displays a different amount of impurity content. Titanium 1 is purest. Titanium 1 has a tensile strength of 172 Mpa.

Applications

Owing to the high strength to weight ratio, Titanium finds usage in a variety of applications. These includes products where weight is of great importance like aircraft, sporting equipment, etc.. Due to its excellent corrosion resistance, Titanium finds use in The following applications. 

- Chemical processing
- Desalination
- Power generation equipment
- Valve and pump parts
- Marine hardware
- Prosthetic devices

Titanium 6AL4VELI is known as the surgical grade Titanium.Ti-6Al-4V ELI shows improved ductility, toughness in air as well as saltwater environments. It is also used in a non-aged condition for maximum toughness. It founds use in many surgical devices, that includes implants done in the body. Some of the crucial uses of surgical grade Titanium includes the following:

- Bio convex spinal implant device
- Orthopedic implant
- Orthopedic implant, vertical plate
- Bone screw
- In vivo flow tube as in artificial heart pump component

Hastelloy refers to the series of Nickel based alloys. They display high-strength and offers excellent resistance to corrosion alloys.Hastelloy isoften used in chemical applications.Hastelloy is also known to be resistant against pitting, stress-corrosion cracking and to oxidizing atmospheres up to the temperature of 1900 degree F .

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION(%)	Hastealloy B2	c-22	c-276	c-4

Monel 400/R-405 is a Nickel-Copper alloy. It displays high strength, excellent corrosion resistance along with a toughness over a vast temperature range. Monel is also known to be highly resistant against corrosion caused by chlorinated solvents, Glass-Etching agents, Sulphuric acidical along with other types of alkalies. Monel proves to be useful in oxidising atmospheres to 1000 degree F. Monel R-405 is quite similar to 400 except that sulphur is added for improving machinability.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION(%) :	Monel 400/'405	K -500
Min 63	27-33	Nickel
2.3-3.25	2	min. 63
Aluminium	Max.0.5	Copper : 27 - 33
Manganese	Max 1.25	Aluminium : 2.3 - 3.25
Iron	1-2.5	Manganese : max.1.5.;
Titanium	Max 0.2	Iron : 0.5 - 2
Carbon	Max 0.15	Titanium : 0.35 - 0.85 Carbon : max. 0.25

Application of Monel 

• Valves
• Pumps
• Propellor shafts
• Marine fixtures
• Electrical and Electronic components
• Process equipment
• Petroleum refining and production equipment
• Heat Exchangers

A nickel based alloy is a primarily an alloy whose chief constituent is nickel. Nickel based alloys are of vital importance importance to industry due to their ability to withstand a variety of severe operating conditions that involves high stresses, corrosive environment, high temperatures and other combinations thereof. Nickel based alloys act as the best defense against abrasion, corrosion along with high temperatures. Nickel based alloys have been known to extendi the service life of machinery for more than 50 years.

Application of Nickel Based Alloys
Nickel based alloys have diverse applications, most of which are due to its excellent resistance to corrosion and/or heat. Some of the typical examples include the following: 


• Aircraft gas turbines
• Steam turbine powerplants
• Turbochargers and valves in reciprocating engines
• Prosthetic devices 
• Heat treating equipment 
• Pollution control equipment 
• Coal gasification and liquefaction systems 


• Inconel 600
• Inconel 825
• Incoloy 800

A brief description is given here of the process to isolate Nickel in the laboratory. Though normally it is not required to make Nickel in the laboratory as it is always readily available commercially. Still small quantities of pure nickel is isolated in the laboratory. It is done through the purification of crude nickel with carbon monoxide. A highly toxic gas Nickel tetra carbonyl, Ni(CO)4, is the intermediate in this process. As it is extremely toxic exposure should not in any way exceed 0.007 mg M-3. On heating at 250¢XC the carbonyl decomposes to form pure nickel powder. The Chemical equation for this: Ni 4CO (50¢XC) Ni(CO)4 (230¢XC) The Ni(CO)4 is a volatile complex that can be easily flushed from the reaction vessel like a gas leaving the impurities behind. For making Nickel industrially the ¡§ Mond Process¡¨ uses similar chemistry.

Characteristics of Some Nickel alloys A brief description is given here of some high temperature and corrosion resistant Nickel Alloys 

NICKEL 200: Nickel 200 is a commercially pure Nickel that is used in corrosive environments. It is both tough and ductile at high and low temperatures.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION(%) :	NICKEL 200
Nickel	99.2
Manganese	Max : 0.3
Iron	Max.0.4
Magnesium	Max 0.05
Copper	Max. 0.25
Carbon	Max 0.10

Applications of Nickel 200/201

• Food Processing Equipment
• Shipping Drums for chemicals
• Caustic Handling equipment
• Plated bars
• Aerospace and Missile components
• Magneto structure devices

Duplex steels originated in Sweden more than 70 years ago. It was primarily used in the sulfite paper industry. Duplex alloys are basically a compromise that has some of the ferritic stress corrosion cracking resistance along with much of the excellent formability of the common austenitic stainless alloys, all this comes at a lesser price as compared to the high nickel alloys. Duplex alloys were made for combating corrosion related problems due to chloride-bearing cooling waters along with other aggressive chemical process fluids. Duplex Steel are called so because of its mixed microstructure. Duplex steels have equal proportions of ferrite and austenite.The chemical composition of duplex steel with high contents of Cr and Mo, results in improved intergranular and pitting corrosion resistance. Duplex steel can be broadly divided into four major groups:

• Lean Duplex like 2304, containing no deliberatey added Molybdenum
• 2205, this is the work-horse grade, forming more than 80% of duplex usage
• 25 Cr Duplex like Alloy 255 and DP-3
• Super Duplex

Applications of Duplex Steel

• Heat exchangers, tubes and pipes for the production as well as handling of oil and gas
• Heat exchangers and pipes for use in in desalination plants
• Pressure vessels, tanks, pipes and heat exchangers for processing as well as transporting of numerous chemicals
• Cargo tanks, piping along with welding consumables for use in chemical tankers.

Before discussing 17-4 PH it would be worthwhile to give a brief description of Precipitation hardening stainless steels. Precipitation hardening stainless steels are primarily chromium and nickel containing steels which gives an optimum combination of the properties of martensitic as wello as austenitic grades. Similar to martensitic grades, they are well known for their exceptional ability to gain high strength through heat treatment. Further they also dispaly corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steel. The high tensile strengths of precipitation hardening stainless steels develops after it passes through a heat treatment process leading to precipitation hardening of a martensitic or austenitic matrix. Among the types of precipitation hardening steel the most well known is the is the 17-4 PH. The name 17-4 PH is due to the additions of 17% Chromium and 4% Nickel. 17-4 PH also contains in it 4% Copper and 0.3% Niobium. 17-4 PH is also known by another name and that is stainless steel grade 630.

Application of 17-4 PH Owinng to the high strength of 17-4 PH(precipitation hardening stainless steels) most applications are found in aerospace and other high-technology industries. Typical applications include:

• Gears
• Valves and other engine components
• High strength shafts
• Turbine blades
• Moulding dies
• Nuclear waste casks

SMO 254 is one of the high end austenitic stainless steel. It effectively combines impact toughness resistance to chloride stress corrosion cracking. SMO 254 has strength that is nearly twice that of 300 series stainless steels. As compared to high nickel and titanium alloys, in some specific applications SMO 254 has been found to be a more cost effective alternative. As SMO 254 displays a high initial yield strength, therefore this alloy needs a greater force than what is used in other austenitic stainless steels.

Applications of SMO 254

Application of SMO 254 has been found in the following aaplications:

- Petroleum production
- Saltwater handling
- Food processing and chemical processing equipment
- Pulp mill bleach systems
- Flue gas desulfurization scrubbers
- Tall oil distillation columns

Inconel 718 is typically a precipitation-hardenable nickel-chromium alloy that contains considerable quantities of iron, niobium, and molybdenum along with minute quantities of aluminum and titanium. Inconel 718 combines corrosion resistance and high strength with remarkable weldability. It can even resist postweld cracking. The alloy is known to have an outstanding excellent creep-rupture strength at temperatures up to 700 degree C. Primary applications include gas turbines, nuclear reactors, rocket motors, spacecraft, pumps, and tooling.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION(%) :	Inconel 718
Ni( Co):	50-55
Fe	Bal
Mo	2.8-3.3
Ti	0.65- 1.15
C	0.08
Si	0.35
Cu	0.3
Cr	17-21
Co	1
Nb( Ta)	4.75-5.5
Al	0.2-0.8
Mn	0.35
B	0..006

 

Tantalum represented by the atomic number 73 and chemical symbol Ta is a heavy, and very hard metal. It has the appearance of grayish silver. In its pure form tantalum is ductile and can be drawn into fine wire for use as a filament for evaporating metals like aluminum. Tantalum shows excellent resistance towards chemical attack and is totally immune to chemical attack at temperatures below the 150¢XC mark. Tantalum is prone only to attacks by HCL acid, acidic solutions containing the fluoride ion, and free sulphur trioxide. Tantalum's has a high melting point which is exceeded only by tungsten and rhenium.

Processing of Tantalum Till very recent times the majority of the world¡¦s production of Tantalum was got from the discard slags of tin smelters. The tin mineral known as cassiterite is most frequently associated with columbite/ tantalite ore. This is found in countries like Thailand, Australia, Brazil and also in Malaysia in a a small extent. As the tin concentrates are smelted, the tin gets transformed to metal, but the tantalum stays unreduced in the slag, from which it is then recovered by the process of electric smelting and/or chemical extraction. These days Tantalum along with Niobium are getting extracted from their ores after concentration, by chemical means in place of smelting.

Application of Tantalum:

Before cheap tungsten was developed Tantalum was used in the wire form as a lamp filament. Now Tantalum's biggest single use in the form of powdered metals for use in capacitors. This use of Tantalum almost accounts for nearly 50% of the total use. It has been found that if the purity of the metal is raised there is a significant reduction in the quantity of Tantalum required for different application. Recent technical advances in the manufacture of Tantalum have paved the way for capacitor manufactures to increase their production considerably..

Inconel Alloy 625 is used for its high strength, excellent fabricability (including joining), and outstanding corrosion resistance.  Service temperatures range from cryogenic to 1800°F. Strength of Inconel Alloy 625 is derived from the stiffening effect of molybdenum and columbium on its nickel-chromium matrix; thus precipitation-hardening treatments are not required.  This combination of elements also is responsible for superior resistance to a wide range of corrosive environments of unusual severity as well as to high-temperature effects such as oxidation and carburization.


Features:

• Outstanding
• Reisitance to corrosion and oxidation, from Cryogenic
• Temperatures to 2000F
• Non Magnetic
• Exceptional fatigue strength

APPLICATIONS:

• Aerospace Ducting Systems
• Combustion systems
• After-Burners
• Fuel Nozzles
• Hot Brine Handling Equipment
• Chemical Equipment