Nimonic is a registered

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

Special Metals Corporation Special Metals Corporation (SMC) is an American supplier of special refractory alloys and is headquartered in New Hartford, New York, United States. The company has operations in Huntington, West Virginia; Dunkirk, New York; Burnaugh, Kentucky; ...

that refers to a family of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

-based high-temperature low creep superalloys. Nimonic alloys typically consist of more than 50% nickel and 20%

chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...

with additives such as

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

and

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

. The main use is in

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

components and extremely high performance reciprocating internal combustion engines. The Nimonic family of alloys was first developed in the 1940s by research teams at the Wiggin Works in

Hereford, England Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population of ...

, in support of the development of the

Whittle Whittle may refer to: Crafts *Whittling, the carving of wood with a knife People * Whittle (name), a surname, and a list of people with the name Places * Whittle, Kentucky * Whittle, Derbyshire, a hamlet near Glossop, Derbyshire, United Kingdom ...

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

Development

Working at

Inco Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

's Wiggin facility at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Leonard Bessemer Pfeil Dr Leonard Bessemer Pfeil (13 March 1898 – 16 February 1969) was a British metallurgist. Early life Leonard Pfeil was born in London, the son of accountant Leopold Pfeil, and educated at St Dunstan's College, Catford and the Royal School of ...

is credited with the development of Nimonic alloy 80 in 1941, and used in the Power Jets W.2B. Four years later, Nimonic alloy 80A followed, an alloy widely used in engine

valves A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

today. Progressively stronger alloys were subsequently developed: Nimonic alloy 90 (1945), Nimonic alloy 100 (1955), and Nimonic alloys 105 (1960) and 115 (1964 - Prof John Gittus FREng. DSc. D Tech 1986.).Patel, Shailesh J
"A Century of Discoveries, Inventors, and New Nickel Alloys."
''JOM,'' September 2006. Retrieved: 5 March 2011.

Properties and uses

Due to its ability to withstand very high temperatures, Nimonic is ideal for use in aircraft parts and

components such as

turbine blade ...

s and exhaust nozzles on

s, for instance, where the pressure and heat are extreme. It is available in different grades, including Nimonic 75, Nimonic 80A, and Nimonic 90."Metal Tidbits: Nimonic."
''steelforge.com.'' Retrieved: 5 March 2011. Nimonic 80a was used for the turbine blades on the

Rolls-Royce Nene The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent"Rolls-Royce Aero Engines" Bill Gunston, Patrick Stephens Limited 1989, , p.111 w ...

and

de Havilland Ghost The de Havilland Ghost (originally Halford H-2) was the de Havilland Engine Company's second design of a turbojet engine to enter production and the world's first gas turbine engine to enter airline service (with British Overseas Airways Corpo ...

, Nimonic 90 on the Bristol Proteus, and Nimonic 105 on the

Rolls-Royce Spey The Rolls-Royce Spey (company designations RB.163 and RB.168 and RB.183) is a low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce that has been in widespread service for over 40 years. A co-development version of th ...

aviation gas turbines. Nimonic 263 was used in the

combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process. Interna ...

s of the

Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an Anglo-French turbojet with reheat (afterburners), which powered the supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited (BSEL) and Snecma, derived ...

used on the

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

supersonic airliner. The heads of the exhaust valves as well as the turbine wheel of its Rajay turbocharger for the Corvair Spyder turbo engine were made of Nimonic 80A. Most Saab cars with high output turbos use exhaust valves made of Nimonic 80A as well. Nimonic 75 has been certified by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

as a standard creep reference material.

References

{{reflist

External links

'' ... and now Nimonic 90''
- a 1951 ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'' advertisement for Nimonic 90
''Nimonic Alloys''
- a 1952 ''

'' advertisement for Nimonic Alloys by Henry Wiggin and Company
''Nimonic Creep-Resisting Alloys''
- a 1960 ''

'' advertisement Nickel alloys Superalloys Chromium alloys Aerospace materials British inventions Nickel–chromium alloys

Development

Properties and uses

See also

References

External links