Inconel
Alloys · Uncommon · Modern
A nickel-chromium alloy that keeps most of its strength at 1000°C, where steel would be sagging and shedding scale. The price is paid in the machine shop: Inconel work-hardens the instant a tool touches it, so the cut has to be deep, slow and unbroken, and any hesitation ruins the part and the cutter together. Machinists charge extra for it and they are not being difficult.
Identity
- Source
- Modern alloy: nickel, chromium, iron
- Composition
- Nickel ≥58%, Chromium 20-23%, Molybdenum 8-10%, Niobium 3-4%, Iron ≤5%
- Over time
- The shares are those of Inconel 625. Inconel 718 holds 50 to 55% nickel, 17 to 21% chromium, 3% molybdenum and 5% niobium, iron the rest.
- Also known as
- Nickel superalloy, IN-718, High-temperature alloy
- Ores, before industry and since
- Goethite (Iron), Hematite (Iron), Limonite (Iron), Magnetite (Iron), Siderite (Iron)
- Ores of the industrial age
- Garnierite (Nickel), Limonite (Nickel), Nickeline (Nickel), Pentlandite (Nickel), Skutterudite (Nickel), Chromite (Chromium), Molybdenite (Molybdenum), Wulfenite (Molybdenum)
Physical Properties
- Appearance
- Dull silver-grey, oxidises to a dark protective scale at extreme temperatures rather than deteriorating
- Luster
- Metallic
- Density
- 8.19 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 1350 °C
- Boiling point
- 3000 °C
- Lighter
- Korvaire Steel
- Denser
- Darksteel
- Magnetism
- Non-magnetic
- Electrical conductivity
- Low
Mechanical Properties
- Mohs hardness
- 5.5
- Tensile strength
- 1380 MPa
- Softer
- Orium
- Harder
- Celestial Siderite
- Workability
- Difficult
- Brittleness
- Tough
- Malleability
- Low
- Ductility
- Moderate
Chemical Properties
- Corrosion resistance
- Very High
- Reactivity
- Very Low
Lore & Narrative
Developed in the 1940s for jet turbine blades, which sit in gas hotter than the temperature at which they would themselves melt, and survive only because cooling air is bled out through holes in the blade. SpaceX prints Merlin engine combustion chambers from it.
- Notable uses
- Jet engine turbines, rocket engines, nuclear reactors, deep-sea drilling
- Forge uses
- Aerospace, rocket engines, nuclear applications
- Worldbuilding traits
- extreme-heat, Aerospace, Modern, Industrial
Sources
- Inconel, Wikipedia
Browse the Metal Encyclopedia — MGS Toolbox