I'll repeat this here - hope the locals don't mind. It is from Wikipedia.
Monel is a group of nickel alloys, primarily composed of nickel (from 52 to 67%) and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. (Alloys with copper contents 60% or more are called cupronickel.)
Stronger than pure nickel, Monel alloys are resistant to corrosion by many agents, including rapidly flowing seawater. They can be fabricated readily by hot- and cold-working, machining, and welding.[2]
Monel was created by Robert Crooks Stanley, who worked for the International Nickel Company (INCO) in 1901. Monel alloy 400 is a binary alloy of the same proportions of nickel and copper as is found naturally in the nickel ore from the Sudbury (Ontario) mines and is therefore considered a puritan alloy.[i][3][4] Monel was named after company president Ambrose Monell, and patented in 1906.[5] One L was dropped, because family names were not allowed as trademarks at that time.[1] The name is now a trademark of Special Metals Corporation.