Nickel Alloy Scrap

Nickel Alloys by Alloy System

The easiest way to understand nickel alloy scrap is by what is added to the nickel, because that decides both where the alloy was used and what it is worth.

For the individual grades commonly met in scrap, with their UNS numbers and the elements that drive their value, see nickel alloy scrap grades and what drives their value.

Families

Inconel Scrap

Inconel is the best-known name in nickel alloys, and Inconel scrap is the largest and most liquid part of the high-nickel alloy scrap market. The family spans two quite different kinds of alloy. Solid-solution grades such as 600, 601, 617, 625 and 690 get their properties from chromium, molybdenum and cobalt dissolved in the nickel. Precipitation-hardened grades such as 706 and 718, and the cast grades 713C and IN-939, get their strength from fine precipitates that form during heat treatment.

Incoloy Scrap

Incoloy alloys sit between stainless steel and the nickel-base Inconels. With roughly 42–44% nickel, 21% chromium and about 30% iron, they are still nickel-predominant and trade as nickel alloy scrap, but a melter treats them differently from a Ni-Cr-Mo alloy because of the iron and copper content.

Hastelloy Scrap

Hastelloy alloys are built for the harshest chemical service: hydrochloric acid, wet chlorine, hypochlorite and mixed acids. That comes from molybdenum, often in large amounts. Hastelloy B-2 carries around 28% molybdenum; C-276 carries 16% with tungsten; C-22 balances 22% chromium with 13% molybdenum. Hastelloy X is the odd one out, a high-temperature alloy for combustors and furnaces rather than a corrosion alloy.

Monel Scrap

Monel is the nickel-copper branch of the nickel alloys. Nickel and copper mix in any proportion, so Monel is a single-phase alloy with around two-thirds nickel and one-third copper. That chemistry resists seawater, brackish water, hydrofluoric acid and alkalis, which is why Monel turns up on ships, in refinery HF alkylation units and in seawater pumps and valves.

Haynes Alloy Scrap

The Haynes alloys covered here are high-temperature materials, not corrosion alloys. Haynes 214 relies on 4.5% aluminium to form a protective alumina scale. Haynes 230 uses 14% tungsten and 22% chromium for strength and stability up to about 1,150 °C (2,100 °F). Haynes 282 is a γ′-strengthened superalloy designed to weld and fabricate more easily than older superalloys.

Nimonic Scrap

The Nimonic alloys grew out of the early British jet engine programmes. All are built on an 80/20 nickel-chromium base. Nimonic 75 is a simple solid-solution alloy with a trace of titanium. Nimonic 80A adds titanium and aluminium so it can be age-hardened, and is still the standard for engine exhaust valves and high-temperature bolting. Nimonic C-263 adds 20% cobalt and 6% molybdenum for weldable combustor sheet.

All Nickel Alloy Grades

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