Nickel

Nickel

Because of the oxidation resistance of nickel to the air, it is used in coin production, in the production of chemical tools and equipment and in the production of many alloys such as German silver.

Nickel is usually found together with cobalt in nature. It is important in the production of alloys (especially superalloys) and stainless steel. Besides, because of a natural feature of nickel, it has an ability to change some dimension within a magnetic field. On nickel this change is in the negative direction.

The oxidized form of nickel is usually +2 valence but 0, +1, +3, +4 valence have also been observed. However, the presence of +6-valent nickel may also be possible.

Nickel is used in many industrial and end-user products such as stainless steel, magnets, coins and specialty alloys. It is also used in order to give green color to glass.

Nickel is an alloy metal before anything else. Therefore there are many uses as an alloy. These alloys are made of copper, chromium, aluminum, lead, cobalt, silver and gold.