Inconel 718 and 625 machining for aerospace and defense.
Argent manufactures Inconel parts where most commodity shops decline to quote. 5-axis milling, turning, wire EDM, and sinker EDM for nickel superalloys at the temperatures and tolerances aerospace and defense programs require. Inconel 718, Inconel 625, Waspaloy, and other high-temperature alloys.
The work most shops won’t quote — and why.
Inconel is a family of austenitic nickel-chromium superalloys used in aerospace, gas turbine, rocket propulsion, and defense applications where parts must hold strength at temperatures from 1200°F to 2000°F. The most common grades in aerospace are Inconel 718 (jet engine hot sections, rocket nozzle work) and Inconel 625 (combustor liners, chemical processing).
Inconel is also one of the most difficult metals to machine. The same properties that make it valuable in flight hardware — high strength at temperature, work hardening behavior, low thermal conductivity — make it punishing on tooling and slow to cut. Commodity machine shops decline to quote Inconel jobs because:
- Tool life is short. Inconel work-hardens during machining, generating heat at the cutting edge and accelerating tool wear. A roughing pass that runs 90 minutes in aluminum runs 6 hours in Inconel.
- Surface finish is delicate. Improper feed and speed produces glazed surfaces, work-hardened layers, and tensile residual stresses that compromise fatigue life on flight parts.
- Tolerance is harder to hold. Tool deflection, thermal expansion during the cut, and chatter at conventional speeds all make tight tolerances harder to maintain than on stainless or titanium.
- Cost per part is high. Slow cutting + premium tooling + scrap risk = quotes that look unattractive next to titanium or stainless. Shops without aerospace volume avoid bidding.
Argent partners with shops that have built their book of business around exactly this work. Programmers who understand chip-thinning and high-pressure coolant strategy. Operators who know which inserts hold up. Production managers who price the work realistically and deliver on time.
How Argent manufactures Inconel parts.
5-axis CNC milling
For prismatic Inconel parts with complex geometries — impellers, turbine wheel blanks, rocket engine mounting brackets, combustor housings. Our partners run 5-axis machining centers configured for nickel superalloy cutting with high-pressure coolant (1000 psi+), ceramic and carbide tooling matched to the alloy grade, and CAM strategies designed for chip thinning.
Turning and Swiss screw
Inconel turning for shafts, fasteners, and high-temperature plumbing fittings. Swiss screw production for small-diameter Inconel parts in higher volumes (50 to 5,000 piece runs).
Wire and sinker EDM
For Inconel parts where geometry is impractical to machine conventionally — sharp internal corners, deep narrow slots, complex profile work. Wire EDM for through-cut profiles. Sinker EDM for blind cavities, blade airfoil molds, and internal features. EDM removes material independent of hardness, so Inconel cuts as fast as mild steel.
Heat treatment and aging
Inconel 718 parts ship through full AMS 5663 solution heat treatment and precipitation aging when required. We coordinate the heat treatment cycle with the machining stages so dimensional changes from aging are accounted for in the manufacturing plan.
Inspection
CMM dimensional verification, surface finish per ANSI B46.1, and FPI (fluorescent penetrant inspection) for crack detection on critical features. NDE results documented per the buyer’s requirements.
Inconel grades and related nickel superalloys.
Inconel 718 is our highest-volume Inconel grade — the workhorse alloy for jet engine hot section parts, rocket engine turbopumps, and high-temperature defense applications. Inconel 625 is used where corrosion resistance matters more than peak temperature strength (combustor liners, chemical processing, marine).
Our partner network also handles related nickel-cobalt superalloys (Waspaloy, Rene 41) and nickel-molybdenum corrosion-resistant alloys (Hastelloy C-276, C-22) for adjacent aerospace and defense applications.
Pairs well with.
Argent customers typically combine multiple capabilities on the same program. These are the most common pairings with this work.