Nimonic is now a registered

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

of Special Metals Corporation that refers to a family of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has 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 slo ...

-based high-temperature low creep

superalloy A superalloy, or high-performance alloy, is an alloy with the ability to operate at a high fraction of its melting point. Key characteristics of a superalloy include mechanical strength, thermal creep deformation resistance, surface stability, ...

s. Nimonic alloys typically consist of more than 50% nickel and 20%

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

with additives such as

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has 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 (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

. The main use is in

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

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, in support of the development of the Whittle

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

Development

Working at Inco- Mond's Wiggin facility at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Leonard Bessemer Pfeil 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 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.).

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 ...

and de Havilland Ghost, Nimonic 90 on the

Bristol Proteus The Bristol Proteus was the Bristol Engine Company's first mass-produced gas turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered just over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). The Proteus was a reverse-flow gas turbine. Because the second turbine drov ...

, 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 the ...

aviation gas turbines. Nimonic 263 was used in the

combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the air–fuel ratio, fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the Firebox (steam engine), firebox which is used to allow a mo ...

s of the

Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an France–United Kingdom relations, Anglo-French turbojet with reheat, which powered the Supersonic transport, supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley, Br ...

used on the

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

as a standard creep reference material.

References

{{reflist

External links

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

Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

'' 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