The metal and its alloys - Nickel processing
The metal and its alloys - Nickel processing
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from CHY.
Pure nickel showcases a remarkable combination of attributes, such as resistance to corrosion, impressive strength, and high ductility, even in extremely low temperatures. It also has advantageous electronic characteristics and unique magnetic qualities. Notably, nickel is an effective catalyst during the hydrogenation process of unsaturated compounds found in vegetable, animal, and fish oils, which transforms these liquids into solids. Oils processed in this manner find usage in products such as shortening, oleomargarine, and soap.
Nickel plays a crucial role as the foundation for oxide-coated cathodes utilized in all television tubes and nearly all radio power tubes. When alloyed with approximately 2 percent tungsten and a trace of magnesium, nickel serves as the cathode base in amplifiers designed for submarine cables, ensuring functionality for 20 years without maintenance.
In addition, nickel is a key ingredient in white-gold alloys that are widely used in jewelry-making. These alloys typically combine nickel, copper, and zinc, all of which are of high purity.
The appealing white hue of nickel is attractive, with most of its copper alloys also appearing predominantly white. Its ability to create strong, ductile combinations with various metals, including iron, chromium, cobalt, copper, and gold, is exploited across industrial applications.
Nickel Plating
Nickel demonstrates impressive resistance against corrosion from fluorine, alkalis, and various organic substances. It retains a bright appearance indoors but may tarnish when exposed to outdoor conditions, despite its low corrosion rate. Because of its exceptional corrosion resistance to sodium chloride and other chlorides used on roads during winter, nickel is indispensable as an undercoat for chromium-plated automotive trim. Heavy nickel plating is widely used as a lining for tank cars and as a coating for the inner walls of extensive piping and similar equipment within the chemical industry.
Copper-Nickel Alloys
Incorporating copper into nickel results in a diverse array of functional alloys. Monel metal, which consists of 67 percent nickel and primarily copper, is notably stronger than pure nickel and finds extensive applications in corrosion resistance. It shows exceptional resistance to fast-flowing seawater, making it suitable for numerous marine applications. Furthermore, introducing a small amount of aluminum and titanium allows it to become precipitation-hardenable, with this high-strength variant being commonly used for propeller shafts. Increasing the copper content to 55 percent leads to the electrical resistance alloy known as constantan, which is often used as a thermocouple paired with pure copper.
The nickel-copper alloys containing 30 percent and 10 percent nickel, typically including 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent iron, are prevalent in tube forms utilized for heat exchangers and condensers. Their corrosion resistance to seawater is critical for desalination plants. Copper-based alloys, containing a minor percentage of nickel, can be made precipitation-hardenable when 5 to 8 percent tin or smaller amounts of silicon or phosphorus are added, which gives them special uses.
The ancient Chinese alloy known as pai-tung, currently referred to as nickel-silver, comprises 10 to 30 percent nickel with the remainder being copper and zinc. This alloy remains a popular choice for silver-plated items and finds applications as a spring material for relays, among various other uses.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Nickel Base Alloy.
A mixture composed of 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper, predominantly white in appearance, was chosen for coinage by Belgium and later by the United States a few years afterward. More recently, it has been utilized as the outer layer of copper-centered coins. Pure nickel was adopted for coinage in Switzerland, a practice that now extends to numerous other nations.
Magnetic Alloys
The property of nickel to alter in length when magnetized makes it valuable as an ultrasonic transducer, employed in various underwater defense technologies. Alloying nickel with around 21 percent iron significantly enhances its magnetic permeability in weaker fields, leading to the creation of alloys known as Permalloy, initially discovered at Bell Laboratories. These alloys have proven invaluable for long-distance transmission, including undersea cables. Other alloys comprising about 45 to 50 percent nickel, balanced with iron, have been innovated for applications involving higher magnetic field strengths.
A remarkable group of nickel-inclusive permanent magnet alloys emerged from Japan starting in the early 20th century. One of the earliest examples contained 25 percent nickel, 12 percent aluminum, and the remainder being iron. More advanced versions, such as Alnico V (comprising 8 percent aluminum, 14 percent nickel, 24 percent cobalt, 3 percent copper, and iron as the balance), were developed in the Netherlands and heat-treated within a magnetic field. These materials greatly influenced the design of numerous electrical devices, including magnetic separators, DC motors, and automobile generators.
Thermal-Expansion Alloys
Invar, an alloy comprising 36 percent nickel and the remainder iron, is remarkable for its minimal thermal expansion. Discovered in the late 19th century, it has since catalyzed the development of later nickel alloys that find diverse applications, ranging from thermostats to balance wheels used in clocks, metal-to-glass seals critical for electric lights, and radio tubes.
High-Strength Steels
Nickel's primary market initially emerged from the production of nickel and nickel-chromium steels used in armor plating, an application grounded in the work of James Riley from Glasgow, Scotland, in the early 20th century and tests conducted by the U.S. Navy on armor plate from a French steel manufacturer. Military needs have sustained the industry for decades, but the rise of steam-turbine power plants, automobiles, agricultural machinery, and aircraft fostered the innovation of a new variety of high-strength steels containing from 0.5 to roughly 5 percent nickel alongside other metals like chromium and molybdenum. In more recent years, the demand for steels that endure ultralow-temperature conditions in liquefied gases has led to increased requests for formulas with 9 percent nickel and higher nickel-content alloys. Such steels utilize carbon for hardening via heat treatment, where nickel enhances toughness and decelerates hardening, allowing larger sections to undergo heat treatment. A carbon-free iron alloy termed maraging steel, containing 18 percent nickel, plus cobalt, titanium, and molybdenum, can be heat-treated to yield a tensile strength of around 2,000 megapascals (equivalent to 21,000 kilograms per square centimeter, or 300,000 pounds per square inch) alongside an elongation of 5 to 10 percent.
The Unexpected Story of How Nickel Got Its Name
The saying 'If I had a nickel for every time...' is well-known, often used to reference recurring scenarios. Everyone knows how this ends—it implies that someone would be wealthy if they received a nickel each time something happened repeatedly.
The element nickel itself has faced numerous challenges throughout history, beginning with its initial discovery.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Soft Magnetic Alloy.