Saturday, August 18, 2012

Info On Nickel Alloys

By Christopher Eyres


For several thousands of years, men have used nickel in a lot of their requirements. Back then, they were not privy to the chemical properties of the element and that they could use nickel alloys in a selection of applications as well .

What's nickel? Nickel is a versatile metal, a chemical part, with an atomic number of twenty-eight and chemical symbol Ni. It is luminous and frequently silvery-white in appearance. It's a ferromagnetic component that may exist in room temperature. There are only three other elements that have the same characteristic : gadolinium, iron and cobalt.

How was nickel discovered? It is thought that man has used nickel as early as 3500 BC. Nevertheless it was only in 1751 that this was classified and recognized as a chemical component by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt who, initially, believed that it was a copper mineral. Since then, vital nickel ore minerals have been discovered,eg limonite, pentlandite and garnierite.

What are the properties of nickel? The properties of nickel are divided into atomic, physical, isotopes, and chemical. Its atomic properties include its electronic configuration, electron structure, and other electron-related stuff.

Its properties include its color ( which is silvery-white ), magnetic abilities ( like what was mentioned earlier, it is one of the 4 elements that have magnetic capabilities at 70 degrees, but is non-magnetic when exposed to temperature greater than that ), and unit cell structure ( nickel has a face focused cubic unit cell ). It's also ductile and hard.

Nickel has five stable isotopes, each of which has a novel set of properties and traits. And when we talk of nickel's chemical properties, it occurs in several oxidation states. The most common among them all is +2.

Where is nickel used? Plenty of industries today use nickel in their operations. Some of the products that use nickel are chargeable batteries, stainless-steel, coinage, electric guitar strings, magnets, nickel alloys and other sorts of alloys, including bronze, copper, lead, silver, gold, cobalt, aluminum and chromium. It is increasingly used to make nickel cast irons and nickel steels.

Nickel alloys are commonly used in power generating plants, gas and oil plants, and other processing factories. They're good at corrosion resistance and heat regulation. They're also exploited in nuclear reactors and solar engineering. In our home, nickel alloys are found in our electrical heaters, cookers and other appliance.




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