ABSTRACT
Nickel materials and high-alloy special stainless steels are becoming increas ingly important for chemical plant construction, power-and offshore engineer ing. Nickel alloys and high-alloy special stainless steels represent a group of materials which has largely become established between the widespread stain less steels [1,2] and the so-called superalloys [3-5] and which extends into both. In many cases, the definition as steel or nickel alloy is of a purely formal nature. For this reason it is appropriate and useful, from both the application and mate rials point of view, to treat nickel alloys and high-alloy special stainless steels as a single materials group. Since the materials involved have been developed in response to specific applications, it is appropriate to subdivide the materials summary to be presented here according to principal applications.
