Molten Nickel

J. B. Richter, and R. Tupputi said that nickel is as easily melted as is manganese; O. L. Erdmann, that it is as easily melted as cast-iron; and L. Thompson, that it is more easily melted than cobalt and iron. The oxidation of the metal while molten was discussed by C. L. Winkler, I. Wharton, and C. W. Siemens and A. K. Huntington; R. Ruer and K. Kaneko found that molten nickel dissolves the oxide, the f.p. is accordingly lowered, and the metal rendered brittle. L. Pebal discussed the ready union of the molten metal with carbon. R. C. Smith found that filings of the metal sintered at 650°, and the precipitated metal at 700°. A. Schertel gave 1392° to 1420° for the melting point of nickel; R. Pictet gave 1450°. P. H. van der Weyde, and T. Carnelley somehow got wide of the mark, for they gave 1600° for the m.p. of the metal. H. le Chatelier gave 1420°; H. Copaux, 1470°; E. M. Terry, and O. Ruff and W. Bormann, 1452°; Gr. K. Burgess and R. Gr. Waltenberg, 1452°; A. L. Day and R. B. Sosman, 1452.3°; L. Holborn and W. Wein, 1484°; Gr. Petrenko, and M. Levin, 1484°; A. G. C. Gwyer, W. Guertler and G. Tammann, N. Konstantinoff, K. Losseff, H. Giebelhausen, A. D. Dourdine, and G. Voss, 1451°; K. Friedrich, 1484°; N. Baar, 1456°; S. F. Schemtschuschny and co-workers, 1484°; G. K. Burgess, 1435° for 99-95 per cent, nickel; C. G. Fink and F. A. Rohrman, 1458°; H. C. Cross, 1455°; and L. Jordan and W. H. Swanger, and H. T. Wensel and W. F. Roeser, 1455° for the m.p. or f.p. of 99-94 per cent, nickel. W. Guertler and M. Pirani, and L. I. Dana and P. D. Foote gave 1452° for the best representative value. T. Carnelley discussed the relation between the m.p. and the coeff. of thermal expansion; and K. Honda and H. Masumoto, and G. A. Tomlinson, the relation between the m.p. and the interatomic forces; W. Crossley, the relation between the at. vol. and the m.p.; A. Stein, the relation between the resistance and the m.p.; R. Forrer, the relation between the m.p. and the lattice structure; and J. A. M. van Liempt and J. A. de Vriend, the time of melting thin fuses.

W. Crookes estimated the volatility of nickel to be 10.99 when that of gold is 100; W. N. Hartley observed that nickel is volatile in the oxy-hydrogen flame; and H. Moissan showed that nickel distils in the electric furnace more readily than cobalt. 150 grms. were distilled in 5 min., in an electric arc furnace, and 200 grms. in 9 min. O. Ruff and W. Bormann gave 2340° for the boiling point of nickel under 30 mm. press. W. R. Mott estimated the b.p. to be 2700°; H. A. Jones and co-workers, 3377°; and R. W. Millar calculated 3075° at 760 mm., 2950° at 500 mm., 2560° at 100 mm., and 1840° at 1 mm. press. H. A. Jones and co-workers calculated the b.p. to be 3377°. O. Ruff and co-workers said that an alloy saturated with carbon begins to boil at about 12,500°. R. W. Millar represented the vapour pressure, p mm., of molten nickel by logp = -1.448 logT – 18340T^-1+13.451. H. A. Jones and co-workers calculated values for the rate of evaporation, m, of nickel filaments, log₁₀m = 40.218/4.577 – (85100+400)/4.577T – (0.971/4.577) log₁₀T – 0.00206T/4.577 – 4340/4.577×1725; and for the vap. press., p, log₁₀p = 40.218/4.577 + 3.475 – (4340+400)/4.577×1725 – (0.971 – 0.5) log₁₀T – 0.00206T/4.577; or

T° K.	500°	1000°	1500°	2000°	2600°	3000°	3650°
p	1.62×10-20	1.34×10-7	2.94×10-1	2.9×102	2.4×104	1.6×105	1.0×106