Since the thermal conductivity of nickel is 90, why isn’t it widely used? ?
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Price factors are not considered for now! The thermal conductivity of nickel is 90, while that of stainless steel is 17. Why is nickel rarely used for heating coils in industrial reactors? Is stainless steel usually chosen? With such a large difference in thermal conductivity, steam and labor costs can be saved, resulting in a significant reduction in operating expenses; this difference should be able to be recovered quite quickly! Can any expert explain this? ? ? ?
:Lol, they don’t even ask about the price; instead, they ask about the processing aspects. Since ancient times, people have had knowledge of steel, but it’s been relatively later that they became familiar with materials like nickel-titanium. In terms of material properties, processing, welding, and so on, there are many issues, not to mention that the reserves of nickel are likely lower than those of iron. Just as silver has a much higher electrical conductivity than copper and aluminum, most wires are still made of copper and aluminum.
The overall heat transfer coefficient of a heat exchanger is influenced by many factors, including the heat transfer coefficients inside and outside the tubes, αi and αo; the wall thickness of the heat exchange tubes, δ; and the thermal conductivity of the tube material, λ. Additionally, there are fouling coefficients for both the inside and outside of the tubes. The improvement in the thermal conductivity of the tube walls by 2 to 3 times has a negligible impact compared to the thermal resistance caused by fouling coefficients. In other words, such an improvement contributes little to the overall heat transfer coefficient. So why waste valuable resources on using nickel? (Of course, it can still be used for corrosion resistance purposes.)
I agree with the person above; the overall heat transfer coefficient is determined by many factors. The thermal conductivity of the pipe wall generally does not play a crucial role, as its contribution to the overall thermal resistance is usually very small
1. We are **short of cobalt and nickel; nickel is an alloying element mainly used in stainless steel. 2. The price of nickel is very high. It is a **strategic reserve. 3. Moreover, the overall heat transfer coefficient in heat exchange equipment cannot be determined solely by considering the thermal resistance of the tubes. It’s necessary to identify which thermal resistance is the main issue! So overall----none use nickel. For reference! :)
Agree with the opinion above; the main reason is price – what’s the point if it’s not cost-effective?
Actually, this issue is similar to the one where “gold has better electrical conductivity than copper, but copper remains the preferred material for wires and cables.” At the end of the day, it’s still a matter of cost-performance.