Thursday, July 5, 2012

The Outstanding Characteristics Of Nickel Alloy

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By Angela Finn


For several years now, nickel alloy still is the popular material of choice in marine engineering largely on account of its high resistance to corrosion. The alloy's various applications serve as sufficient proofs that nickel alloy has an excellent feature important to several users. Nickel naturally has properties that offer plenty of advantages but users can still get more out of it. That's possible through the process of alloying like in the case of the copper-nickel alloy. It is one of the alloy materials chosen by most for its durability. Furthermore, copper-nickel alloy doesn't fall short in terms of meeting the specifications and standards in the industry.

They initially displayed their remarkable qualities as materials engineered for marine structures a century ago. These alloys were then used for naval application in order to address the less than ideal corrosion resistance exhibited by the seawater piping and condenser tubes. Since then, copper-nickel alloys were similarly used for flash desalination, commercial shipping, storage vessels and floating production purposes. That's just to name some of its purposes to date.

When these alloys are exposed to sea water, there are protective films that form in them which then mature over time. The protective surface films make it possible for copper-nickel alloys to have high corrosion resistance. The crucial components which generate considerable impacts on the performance and lasting durability of copper-nickel alloys are the good protective surface films and clean sea water.

But although high corrosion resistance is already a remarkable feature of nickel alloy, it's just one reason which justifies its popularity. One more excellent feature of this alloy is likewise worth mentioning. It is its high resistance to biofouling. In simple terms, biofouling pertains to the degradation caused by the presence of microorganisms and other natural as well as man-made elements in a certain surface that's submerged in water.

This build-up causes hydrodynamic problems. Cleaning it up is tantamount to costly expenses. The aforementioned are two issues that this alloy effectively addresses. It minimises the build-up in order to prevent harm and bring the cost of maintenance down.

But other than providing a solution to corrosion and biofouling problems, these alloys have one more good quality that's of equal importance. They are readily welded and fabricated that's why they have and still are staples for several marine engineering applications.




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