I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted
to make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper
shape. My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they
brittle cold, can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

i

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:28:07 -0500, Ignoramus8004 wrote:

I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted to
make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper shape.
My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they brittle cold,
can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

Our local welding expert says, "Probably about like stainless; it's got a
lot of nickel in it, so it's probably pretty easy to bend."

Why not just try it?

Good Luck!
Rich

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:28:07 -0500, Ignoramus8004 wrote:

I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted
to make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper
shape. My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they
brittle cold, can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

You might also ask sci.engr.joining.welding .

But wouldn't machining one out of a block be more fun? ;-)

Have Fun!
Rich

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:28:07 -0500, Ignoramus8004
wrote:

I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted
to make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper
shape. My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they
brittle cold, can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

Elongation to fracture of Inconel 600 varies from 7 to 30%, depending
on how much the material has been cold worked. That's pretty ductile,
so I wouldn't be too concerned about cold bending.

I just happen to have MIL-HNDBK-5 open to Inconel. The equipment I'm
building requires 200# of Inconel 601 at approx $18/lb. :-(

--
Ned Simmons

On Sep 23, 9:08*pm, Ned Simmons wrote:

I just happen to have MIL-HNDBK-5 open to Inconel. The equipment I'm
building requires 200# of Inconel 601 at approx $18/lb. *:-(

--
Ned Simmons

The Mil-HDBK 's are a really great source. I used to have Mil-
HDBK-419 on my computer. A ton of information ( well two volumes
anyway ) on Grounding, Bonding, and Shielding. Thanks for reminding
me of how much information is available on the internet.

The inconel rods ought to be able to be bent cold. Mil-HDBK-5
cautions against working some of the alloys around 1000 degrees.
Either do it cold or much hotter.

Dan

Iggy,
My experience years ago and it was really soft and easily bent. The application of heat does not change this much unless very high
temperatures are used.
Steve

"Ignoramus8004" wrote in message ...
I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted
to make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper
shape. My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they
brittle cold, can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

i

On Sep 23, 11:28 am, Ignoramus8004
wrote:
I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted
to make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper
shape. My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they
brittle cold, can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

Inconel is a line of several chrome-nickel superalloys, from
International
Nickel Co. They are cold-workable, about like soft stainless steels,
except perhaps X-750 (which wouldn't be in a welding rod).

Boy, can they EVER be heated red hot without damage. Without
much softening, either. Alloy 625 "becomes very stiff below 1850 F"
which means it hot-works above the melting point of iron.

My friend the welder showed me a trick once that might be of interest. He
annealed a rod once by chucking it up in his TIG torch, grounding the other
end of the rod and stepping on the pedal. The rod quickly heated and
glowed, leaving it soft when it cooled.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.


"Ignoramus8004" wrote in message
...
I have some stick welding rods made of Inconel, 3/16" thick. I wanted
to make a replacement belt buckle from them by bending one into proper
shape. My obvious question is, how easy are they to bend, are they
brittle cold, can they be heated red hot without damage to them, etc.

i