I am buying a bunch more scrap from work, and I have an opportunity to get some 1" diameter Inconel 718 bar ends that run around 2" - 5" long.  Even as scrap it is pricey, so before I get it I was wondering is anyone may have some ideas for uses first.  

 

I have been thinking of high temp applications,but kind of drawing a blank at the moment. It has a ton of nickel in it, so any good for Mokume? 

 

http://www.hightempmetals.com/techdata/hitempInconel718data.php

 

Based on my work with Monel, I think you'll find the nickel content to make for tough forging!  

Monel takes a great scale patina that is thin and extremely durable!  It is a tough, stiff material.  Extremely stainless... the ultimate!  Makes a decent match for plated finishes like brushed nickel and pewter... with the proper polish.  Heavy duty for handles!  As noted my experience is with Monel, but I understand them to be similar alloys.  Industrially they are used for dies and in corrosive food or chemical processing.  I'd think it would make good knife furniture.  Personally, I think I should experiment with it for jewelry highly textured and then polished on the outer surfaces for nice contrast!

I've seen it used for sword hilt parts instead of stainless

718 is an inconel material

That is why I put that info in the title of the post. 

We made some sleeves for a customer out of this material. Machined OK in the turning center.

Appearance wise it looks like any other stainless steel, Monel has a different tint to it if I remember right-kind of a greenish/goldy hue.

For what it will cost scrap wise I was looking for things that plain stainless wouldn't work for, because I can get lots of that for a LOT le$$.....

I may have to try polishing a piece up at work to see what it looks like compared to some 304 that we have.

 

Edited April 25, 201511 yr by BIGGUNDOCTOR

In718 is an ni-based super alloy used for air based and ground based turbines. It's not really hot workable at all, given it's hardness and brittleness and is extremely corrosion resistant. Nickel it's very soft on it's own, and when it's alloyed with copper and chrome, but in super alloys, that isn't the case. It's able to keep a good chunk of it's mechanical properties up temperature where steel would turn to butter, which is why it's used in turbines. 

I used to work as an engineer in an investment casting foundry. The vast majority of what our air-based turbines components were cast from was either in718 or in738. I managed to grab a scrap of a cut up airfoil and made a divers knife out of it. Wasn't really that good for cutting, but decent for prying and stabbing...

Definitely puts the "High" in high end railings.  Can make very pretty accent pieces if you can get it cheap.  Watch out for nickel sensitivities working it.

www.specialmetals.com/documents/Inconel%20alloy%20718.pdf

"Working Instructions" starting on page 24 give atmosphere requirements under "heating and pickling." "Hot Forming" on page 25 gives temperatures, reductions, relative pressures required for deformation compared to mild steel 302SS,and other Inconel alloys, and heat treat/property information.