MT Magazine July/August 2023

LAMARKABLES

JULY/AUGUST 2023

31

Now, let’s talk about Monel, a nickel alloy developed before Inconel. Monel is made up of 52%-67% nickel, with the rest being mostly copper along with a sprinkle of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. It’s not even a cupronickel alloy because it has less than 60% copper. Inconel Etymology In 1905, a guy named Robert Crooks Stanley, who worked at Inco, the International Nickel Co., discovered Monel. My hypothesis is (couldn’t find any confirmation on the web, so hit me up if you know) Stanley and Inco thought it was significant enough to name after the first chairman of the company, Ambrose Monell. But back in those days, you couldn’t legally name a discovery after someone. So, they took off the last letter and called it “Monel.” Then, when they developed their next big alloy, I’m assuming they combined the company name “Inco” with the last part of their first significant alloy, “Monel,” and bam! Inconel was born. Don’t quote me on this, though. It’s just my speculation. But first: What is Inconel? If you still don’t know, get out from under your rock and check the Wikipedia page. I’m not wasting text space here. But let me tell you this much: Nickel superalloys like Inconel are all the rage in modern manufacturing. You’d

think they were just invented in the last decade! They’re incredibly heat and corrosion-resistant, but here’s the catch – they’re a pain to process in manufacturing. Take a pause here and check out the timeline below for the fascinating history of Inconel. Conclusion So, the history of Inconel has its ups and downs, but here’s the good news: Thanks to additive manufacturing, it’s no longer impossible to work with. Nickel is one of the easiest base metals to use in additive manufacturing, which is why after over 90 years, it’s finally becoming popular. We can say that metal AM is Inconel’s happy ending, but I think the revolution is just getting started! If you have any questions about this information, please contact Stephen at slamarca@AMTonline.org. For more LaMarkable content, stream Seasons One and Two of “Road Trippin’ with Steve” now on IMTS.com/plus.

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2007 CVRD rebrands as Vale on Nov. 29.

1975 Inco acquires Daniel Doncaster and Sons, the forge and primary supplier to the supersonic Concorde jet’s nickel and titanium alloy engine blades.

2006 Precision Castparts Corp. acquires Special Metals Corp. for $540 million. Also, Brazilian mining company CVRD offers to buy Inco for $17 billion, and the deal gets approved by the Canadian government’s investment review agency on Oct. 19.

2021 Investing legend and Berkshire Hathaway

owner Warren Buffett realizes that Inconel is a nightmare to work with, leading Berkshire Hathaway to take an almost $11 billion write-down on its investment in Precision Castparts Corp.

1998 Special Metals

1991 The Acura

Corp. acquires the rights to the Inconel trademark and Inco’s nickel alloy manufacturing sites for a whopping $408 million.

(Honda) NSX hits the market with a Monel ignition key.

2016 Special Metals Corp. is

now owned by Berkshire Hathaway, thanks to their acquisition of Precision Castparts Corp. for $37 billion.