Nickel-based alloys are generally called alloys with a Ni content of more than 30wt%, and the Ni content of common products is more than 50wt%. Because of its superior high-temperature mechanical strength and corrosion resistance, nickel-based alloys are collectively called Superalloy with iron-based and cobalt-based alloys. They are generally used in high-temperature environments above 540℃, and different alloy designs are selected according to their use occasions, and they are mostly used in special corrosion-resistant environments and high-temperature corrosive environments, which require equipment with high-temperature mechanical strength. Often used in aerospace, energy, petrochemical industry or special electronics/optoelectronics and other fields.

Nickel-based alloy was developed in the late 1930s. In 1941, Britain first produced the nickel-based alloy Nimonic 75 (Ni-20Cr-0.4Ti). In order to improve the creep strength, Al was added, and Nimonic 80 (Ni-20cr-2.5ti-1.3al) was developed. The United States in the mid-1940s, Russian in the late 1940s and China in the mid-1950s also developed nickel-based alloys. The development of nickel-based alloys includes two aspects, namely, the improvement of alloy composition and the innovation of production technology.

For example, in the early 1950s, the development of vacuum melting technology created conditions for refining nickel-based alloys containing high Al and Ti, which led to a significant increase in alloy strength and service temperature. In the late 1950s, due to the increase of the working temperature of turbine blades, the alloy was required to have higher high-temperature strength, but with high strength, it was difficult to deform, or even impossible to deform, so a series of cast alloys with good high-temperature strength were developed by using precision casting technology. In the mid-1960s, directional crystal and single crystal superalloys with better performance and powder metallurgy superalloys were developed.

In order to meet the needs of ships and industrial gas turbines, a number of high Cr nickel-based alloys with good thermal corrosion resistance and stable structure have been developed since the 1960s. During the 40 years from the early 1940s to the late 1970s, the working temperature of nickel-based alloys increased from 700℃ to 1,100℃, with an average annual increase of about 10℃. Today, the service temperature of nickel-based alloys can exceed 1,100℃. From the above-mentioned Nimonic75 alloy with simple initial composition to the recently developed MA6000 alloy, the tensile strength at 1,100℃ can reach 2,220MPa and the yield strength is 192MPa；. Its durable strength at 1,100℃/137MPa is about 1,000 hours, and it can be used for aero-engine blades.