A hard, silvery-white, corrosion-resistant transition metal, used almost entirely as an alloying and coating agent rather than in pure form. Its two industrially dominant roles are as the key alloying element in stainless steel, giving it corrosion resistance and toughness, and in nickel-based superalloys used in jet-engine and gas-turbine components, which retain strength at extreme temperatures; it is also widely used in electroplating and in nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal-hydride battery electrodes. It was isolated from an ore Saxon miners had already nicknamed "kupfernickel," roughly "Devil's copper" or "false copper," out of frustration at being unable to extract any copper from it.
Facts
Primary UseCorrosion-resistant alloying agent, chiefly stainless steel and nickel-based superalloys for jet engines and gas turbines; also electroplating and nickel-cadmium/nickel-metal-hydride battery electrodes. 1 Origin YearAxel Fredrik Cronstedt isolated nickel from a Los, Sweden cobalt-mine ore, reporting it to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; he did not name the element until a follow-up 1754 paper, and full acceptance that it was a genuinely new element rather than a mixture took further years to settle. Classification
Material Class Connections
Associated With
Invar is roughly 64 percent iron and 36 percent nickel; its low-expansion behavior comes from the nickel content.
Source Invar (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Nickel is a key alloying element in austenitic stainless steels, improving corrosion resistance and formability.
Source Nickel (Royal Society of Chemistry Periodic Table)
In Field
Source Nickel (Royal Society of Chemistry Periodic Table)
Sources
1. Nickel (Royal Society of Chemistry Periodic Table)
Royal Society of ChemistryHistory and Uses panels
In 1751, Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, working at Stockholm, investigated a new mineral. ... mainly used in making alloys such as stainless steel.
material-class sentence
A hard, silvery-white, corrosion-resistant transition metal, used almost entirely as an alloying and coating agent rather than in pure form.
- In Field: Materials Engineering
- Associated With: Stainless Steel
View the Source Invar (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: InvarView the Source Frequently Asked Questions
Where does the name nickel come from?
From kupfernickel, the miners' name for a false copper ore.
Nickel was isolated from an ore that Saxon miners had already nicknamed kupfernickel, roughly Devil's copper or false copper, out of frustration at being unable to extract any copper from it.
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