| Abstract Scope |
Within the field of high-performance alloys needed for demanding applications and safety-critical components, nickel-base alloys play a prominent role. With its metallurgical compatibility with other metals (e.g., Cr, Mo, W, Fe, Cu), nickel offered numerous opportunities for the development of advanced oxidation-resistant high-strength alloys (“Superalloys”) and aqueous corrosion-resistant alloys (“CRA”). The “THEN” alloys design via empirical approaches (i.e., trials and errors) will be illustrated with the past development of two well-known nickel-base CRA: INCONEL® alloy 625 and HASTELLOY® alloy C-22 in the 1950’s and the 1980’s. Also, with the advent of Integrated Computational materials Engineering (ICME) technologies, the “NOW” design of nickel-base Superalloys will be highlighted by the example of QuesTek® alloy SX-N, developed in 2019 for extreme high temperature applications. The impressive contributions of Dr. Ray Decker to elucidating the versatile role of nickel will be acknowledged. |