Why machining is needed for Inconel alloys
The significance of material choice for minor to major components discovered in equipment crucial to the chemical process industries cannot be underrated. For the small metallic components for example valves and fasteners, the engineers choose materials depending on their performance in the particular service media.
There is a crucial connection between material selection and precision, quick machining and ultimate finish that is usually ignored. These factors can have major effects on the quality and price of the component.
The problems may occur due to unsuitable machining method for small size components specifically for exotic or hard metals.
Material choice
Performance in the service media is normally crucial for material choice for producing the components particularly when the concerns are for prolong and short term protection and consistency of the device.
Corrosion resistance: Corrosion is a major factor that describes the material choice in the various service media. For instance, chloride ions result into stress corrosion cracking on stainless steels therefore titanium is chosen for offering chloride resistance performance. These factors are crucial as the corrosion on a component can cause several negative effects such as fire and mechanical damage.
Chemical interaction: The materials can interact adversely to the chemicals in the different media. The natural chemical factors such as high acidic character, availability of oxidation or aqueous media or vigorous cleaning agents. However the development conditions can be harmful, the chemicals can affect the materials, and therefore the chemical interaction should be considered during the material selection.
Temperature resistance: An engineer must know the mechanical limits of materials to determine the extent of corrosion at the elevated temperatures, causing thermal damage or deformation. The materials are chosen depending on temperature resistance due to the influence of wide temperatures on materials causing high corrosion rates. Elevated temperature materials are iron, nickel and cobalt base metal alloys.
Price- A significant factor in the material choice usually includes the basic cost of the material, the machining and repair and the material. The price has an effect on materials and machining of the material types.
Inconel 600 is more easily machined than Inconel alloy 718, the time and machining cost vary significantly on the base of the grade selected.
Machining feasibility
The two commonly chosen methods for machining of external and internal components are cutting and rolling. The component cutting is a procedure in which a sharp cutting tool is utilized to extract material from the round metal bar to develop the threads.
The thread rolling is a work-hardening process in which the flat or cylindrical dies implement large magnitudes of pressure to the blank material, forcing the material, outside into the thread shape. For super metals and alloys such as stainless steel, titanium and Inconel are usually selected for offering good physical characteristics in the desired application.
Ductility of a material to deform without fracture, is a significant characteristic that describes its machinability. The steels and nonferrous metals are less ductile will usually break and develop chips and impurities for these materials.
Understanding the desired performance and service media is essential in deciding on a material for a threaded component in CPI however this is just a part of the procedure. Machining ensures that the component will serve at high rate when developed from the required material.