Hoosier WaterJet / Welcome

With the retirement of Russ and Cella, the company ownership is acquired by the three sons. David Kirchner becomes CIO, Russ Kirchner III `Rusty' becomes CFO and Jeff Kirchner becomes CEO.

Russ & Cella Kirchner announce retirement at High Performance Alloys. Since inception in 1984, Russ Kirchner Jr. has led this company to the beat of his own drum. After 25 years as President, and 18 years of service with Union Carbide/Cabot STELLITE Division, Russ announced this as his last year at the helm. Numerous patents, countless problems solved, navigating through good times and bad – he still enjoys his work. Many changes occurred since the company began business in the middle of a down turn. Started out as a distributor of sawed bars and plate capabilities, all while expanding product lines. In the late 80s, we ventured into the manufacturing of materials; by producing plate, sheet, bars and forgings. These materials now find regular usage in critical applications in aerospace, defense and chemical processing. Cella has been the ever present Matriarch, controlling the finances and ensuring steady growth. Cella served the company as the primary owner since 1993, keeping ever vigilant eyes on the inventory. Beginning the New Year with only plans to fill their free time, Russ and Cella Kirchner are retiring. Both will still be active board members in this small woman owned company. They are also our first employees in the Quarter Century Club, with a few others not too far behind.

As detailed in the   Nitronic 60 book, the chloride pitting resistance is quite good for a low Moly grade. The Engineer that designed the grade indicates this is due in part to the Silicon acting like Molybdenum. With about 4% Silicon, the material performs very well in SCC compared to 316SS, which actually has a Moly requirement.

Find more information on nitronic 60 properties  and corrosion resistance.

LME will list cobalt and molybdenum: "The London Metal Exchange will list cobalt metal from Vale Inco in Canada"

While some austenitic stainless steels require cold working to achieve higher yield strengths, such as 304 and 316 condition B (Cond. B) - NITRONIC grades have great strength in the annealed condition. NITRONIC 60 and 50 have around 50 to 60 KSI yield strength - about twice that of annealed 304 & 316 SS.

Open die forgings have been produced in our Tipton operations in NITRONIC 50, NITRONIC 60, C-276, INCONEL 718, HAYNES 625, HASTELLOY B, Cobalt 6B and many more grades. Upsets, flats, rectangular and round bars. From small pieces to bars up to 12 feet long. Stainless ingot of N50 / XM-19 and Duplex 255 arriving any day.

This means more inventory availability for alloys NITRONICs 30 / 50 / 60, MONEL 400, INCONEL 601 and 625, 718 and HX sheet & plate. This in addition to our $4M inventory of bar sheet and plate - which adds up to a lot of stock in Nickel and Cobalt products.

Use our webstore to get pricing on available items.