Nickel Applications

Nickel is used in many industrial and consumer products utilizing its properties to provide corrosion and hot-resistance to steels and other alloys. Because of its permanence in air and its inertness to oxidation, it is used in coins, for plating iron, brass, etc., for chemical apparatus, and in certain alloys, such as Monel metal (Ni, Cu, Fe, Mn), commonly used in manufacturing of chemical apparatus, shipbuilding, settlers and lids production; nichrome and chromel used in wire with a melting point that will give high performance, particularly suited to heavy duty rheostats and controls that require compact resistance; invar (Ni, Fe), known for its unique properties of controlled coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), due to which it is used in precision instruments (clocks, physics laboratory devices, seismic creep gauges, shadow-mask frames, valves in motors, antimagnetic watches, etc.); permalloy (Ni, Fe), it has a high magnetic permeability, low coercivity, near zero magnetostriction, and significant anisotropic magnetoresistance; for this reason it is widely used for fabricating the thin pieces that are laminated to form transformer cores, sea cables and power transmission. Nickel silver is a metal alloy of a copper with nickel and often but not always zinc became popular as a base metal for silver plated cutlery and other silverware. Nickel is widely used in the production of coins; its industrial and technical uses include marine fittings and plumbing fixtures for its corrosion resistance, and heating coils for its high electrical resistance. Alnico (Al-Ni-Co-alloy) make strong permanent magnets, and can be magnetized to produce strong magnetic fields.

Nickel is also used for anti-corrosive and decorating plating, in which it is often replaced by chromium, and as a green tint in glass.