What is Nibron Special material?

Nibron Special is a trademark of Columbia Metals Ltd. It is a high-strength copper-nickel-aluminium alloy closely related to the German Werkstoff number DIN 2.1504.

The first commercial aluminium-containing Cu-Ni alloy was developed by Langley Alloys in the 1940’s and marketed as Hidurax Special (Cu-15Ni-3Al). It was developed to meet a requirement for a high strength corrosion resistant alloy in naval applications. This alloy was later renamed Hiduron 130 and given the generic designations DIN 2.1504, UNS C72400 and the manufacturing supply code DTD 900/4805.

Hiduron 130 is a high-strength cupronickel supplied in the hot worked condition. Aluminium is the alloys key strengthening element through the formation of finely dispersed ϒ’ nickel aluminium precipitate, strengthening the alloy in a similar way to Alloy K-500. As these precipitates are formed through a carefully controlled forging process, naturally aged during cooling, no further heat treatment is necessary, making it one of the highest strength copper alloys commercially available.

Being a cupronickel, it has excellent resistance to corrosion by seawater and marine and industrial atmospheres and it is highly resistant to crevice corrosion. It has a very low magnetic permeability, it is virtually non-magnetic, and it has a higher modulus of elasticity than is normally associated with copper alloys. All these properties are achieved without heat treatment and are combined with good machinability and the ability to take an excellent finish.

The major use of Hiduron 130 now is in subsea hydraulic and electrical connectors such as flying lead connectors for stab plates. It is also used in naval winches, seawater valves and marine engineering generally. Additionally, it can be applied in the aerospace industry for heavily stressed airframe components. Other applications include a variety of mechanical engineering and hydraulics systems amongst which are valve seat inserts and thrust washers for high performance internal combustion engines. There is also interest in exploiting its properties in components destined for hydrogen service.

Langley Alloys stocks Hiduron 130 as round bars from ½”-8” (12.7-203.2mm) diameter, and it can be supplied as bespoke forgings and blocks.

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