Materials selection for any piece of equipment or a process system is rarely a simple task, unless you are exactly replicating something successful. Often engineers will have a checklist to help them narrow down the choices, eliminating groups of materials that are not suitable for various reasons. Austenitic 300 series stainless steels containing 7-35% nickel will have most if not all of the boxes checked for being suitable where a stainless steel is desired.
Even small quantities of nickel in an application can make a big difference to successful deployment.
The many new and innovative applications of hydrogen as fuel show great promise for a greener future.
New advances in the use of Artificial Intelligence have the potential to speed up the process of alloy development.
The last three months have been unprecedented. But amidst the chaos and despite the drop in global GDP, there has still been a considerable amount of activity in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery world.
Most nickel production is destined for stainless steel. But a significant 8% is used in the production of alloy steels which are needed to deliver specific characteristics for specialised and often critical applications.