| :Also Inconel is not stainless steel, as mentioned in one post. Or steel at all for that matter. All Inconels and Incoloys are considered nickel based super alloys, although the Incoloy is mostly Fe (like steel). Stainless steel is a very broad family of materials that contain iron, nickle, and chromium. The different grades contain different percentages of these materials. The more expensive higher grade materials contain more nickle and/or chromium. Some of these "super alloys" are simply high grade stainlesses, such as this one: [ http://www.principalmetals.com/properties/result.asp?Family=Super+Alloy&MetalName=FERRINOX+255 ] I suppose that once the proportion of nickle exceeds the proportion of iron, it would better be called a nickle alloy instead of a stainless. You might be right though, that inconel might not contain much iron at all and shouldn't be called a steel.
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