What if Germany had access to large Nickel reserves in WWII?

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As far as a jet's combustors and turbine blades go, while Nickel is a factor, it's only one of many - Cobalt is also important in high temperature alloys.
But, be that as it may, overall, I don't think it would make much difference in terms of performance - Junkers and BMW's compressor and turbine aerodynamics were, shall we say, sub-optimal, with a low pressure rise per stage, low overall efficiency, and very susceptible to compressor stalls.
 
Throughout the war German AFV armour used chromium as a main ingredient together with molybdenum.
Certain proportions were used for each range of armour thickness with the thinner armour being made harder.

By 1943 all sizes started to use nickel as molybdenum was used less.

By 1944 only armour thicker than around 100mm used nickel due to supply. There is a lot on the later tanks having
armour that cracked easily but nickel was used to increase the ductility of the thicker plates.

Testing by various countries of armour from German tanks showed big variations in crystallisation and fibre - even on plates
from the same vehicle. There was a definite problem for Germany after 1942 when supply shortages started to bite. The
compound effect was that chemists etc had to spend more and more time trying to come up with alternative mixes instead
of improving what they already knew worked.

I would assume alloys for aircraft had the same ongoing problems.
 
.....By 1944 only armour thicker than around 100mm used nickel due to supply. There is a lot on the later tanks having
armour that cracked easily but nickel was used to increase the ductility of the thicker plates.....
IIRC that was the main reason as to why the Panther tank - though 4-5 times more expensive to produce then a Panzer IV - and despite its 75mm KwK 42 L/70 did not have a larger impact then the Panzer IV armed with the 75mm KwK 40 L/48 or the Jagdpanzer IV armed with the KwK 42 L/70.

If Germany would have had Tungsten in abundance or at least in reasonable quantities the armor piercing shells would have cancelled the need for the 88mm and would have
had a huge impact onto the quality of any tooled/machined parts.

I just wonder as to how long this thread is going to continue with more or less everyone being aware that Germany lacked in everything

Regards
Jagdflieger
 
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Care to explain a bit more? Sounds interesting. I do not know diddley sqwat about what you are saying so ....if you could keep it iron age simple it would be fine.
 
Once the United States entered the war the Axis was doomed. Did not matter what they had access to. The problem with German aircraft was fuel not alloys. They had no way to make 150 octane fuel. Though their turbine engines would have been better perhaps with better alloys. Then there was pilot quality and the fact that the US made FAR more aircraft and had much better pilot training. fresh flight school graduates in combat by the Germans was something Robert S. Johnson commented on when people talked of all the P-51 victories. And besides by early 1944 most of their best pilots were dead and they increasingly relied on the poorly trained replacements. Aircraft were not the issue, though as time passed many were being made in underground facilities and even abandoned railway tunnels and suppliers were routinely bombed. The Japanese had the same problem and a with the fuel issue. The war was one of PRODUCTION. A look at the US production shows that nobody else came close. We gave the Soviets almost as much material as we used from D-Day till the end of the war in Europe. At one point they were out of propellant powders for rifle ammo. But it came from the US to save them. Many of their tanks were made with American steel. We gave them 425000 tactical trucks, whole regiments of tanks, about 20000 aircraft. Etc etc. So they had modern military trucks while the Germans were using horse carts.
 
The problem with German aircraft was fuel not alloys.

There is no "THE problem", and nobody said there was.

But it is irrefutable that the lack of (specifically Nickel) had a dramatic impact on the actual operational performance and effectiveness of a huge
portion of the military machines Germany produced. This was particularly pronounced in the case of aero engines, where it had such a bad impact
that it would have made no difference if Germany had better fuels because the performance of German aircraft was being capped by the
low nickel exhaust valves, at a level far below the knock limit of the fuels they already had. (The British tested a BMW801 on Allied 100/130, at the
Thornton Aero Engine Laboratory operated by Shell scientists, and it made less peak power than when on German C3).

So you see, its rather important to look at these things holistically and not go looking for "THE" problem.

Much of that is actually documented with archive files on this actual thread, which rather suggests you have not read it.

With respect to producing LOTS of things, that only works if you have the ability to make them of sufficient quality to work properly. Nothing
is ever about ONE thing in isolation. (page from Allied intelligence report on German industry after the war ended and they had been able
to interrogate the leading German engineers and managers)

 
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