inconel 738 has high tensile, fatigue, creep and rupture strengths up to 1300 degF (704 degC) that makes it a good choice for many applications. It can be easily post-hardened through precipitation hardening heat treatments and has excellent cryogenic properties.
It is a nickel-chromium-molybdenum superalloy that can withstand high temperatures of up to 7000 degrees C and under heavy stress. It is resistant to corrosion from acids and other chemically corrosive materials so it is commonly used in engineering and manufacturing equipment.
This alloy has a low carbon content and is highly resistible to high temperature oxidation. It is also a good candidate for a number of applications that require resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion.
The alloy is a vacuum-melted (double or triple melted for cleanliness) precipitation-hardening nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy that contains significant amounts of iron, columbium and molybdenum along with lesser amounts of aluminum and titanium. It is a versatile alloy that can be forged, cold-worked, hot-worked, machined, spark-eroded, welded and micro shot-peened.
It has a high strength-to-weight ratio that allows for greater strength than many other similar nickel-chromium alloys. It is also non-magnetic and maintains good corrosion and oxidation resistance.
This alloy is used for furnaces, heat-treating equipment, baskets and muffles; petrochemical and process equipment; and gas-turbine components. Standard product forms include round, flats, forging stock, pipe, tube, plate, sheet, strip and wire.
The alloy is also available in special versions for nuclear reactor parts. These have a higher percentage of boron. This allows for greater flexibility in the chemistry and annealing and aging of the alloy to produce a range of mechanical properties, grain sizes and toughness for specific uses.
