About Nickel
A heavy non-ferrous metal material consisting of nickel based addition of other alloying elements. In order to further improve the physical and chemical properties of nickel and meet the requirements of scientific, technological and industrial development, appropriate amount of alloy elements should be added to nickel. Nickel alloys of heavy non-ferrous materials mainly include nickel alloys for electric vacuum, nickel alloys for thermocouple, Monel alloys, nickel beryllium alloys and nickel base catalyst alloys for synthetic diamond. Nickel alloy ingots or castings are mainly produced by vacuum casting. The ingot is first rolled or stretched after hot rolling, extrusion or forging, intermediate heat treatment, and finally processed into the desired finished product. Some nickel-based superalloys are made directly from castings or parts required by powder metallurgy. Nickel alloys are mainly used in electronics, chemical, mechanical, medical, energy development and navigation, aviation and aerospace sectors. Nickel is slowly oxidized by air at room temperature and is considered corrosion-resistant. It has been used for plating iron and brass, coating chemistry equipment, and manufacturing certain alloys that retain a high silvery polish. About 9% of world nickel production is still used for corrosion-resistant nickel plating. Nickel is one of four elements (the others are iron, cobalt, and gadolinium)[7] that are ferromagnetic at approximately room temperature. Alnico permanent magnets based partly on nickel are of intermediate strength between iron-based permanent magnets and rare-earth magnets. The metal is valuable in modern times chiefly in alloys; about 68% of world production is used in stainless steel. A further 10% is used for nickel-based and copper-based alloys, 7% for alloy steels, 3% in foundries, 9% in plating and 4% in other applications, including the fast-growing battery sector,[8] including those in electric vehicles (EVs). As a compound, nickel has a number of niche chemical manufacturing uses, such as a catalyst for hydrogenation, cathodes for batteries, pigments and metal surface treatments. Nickel is an essential nutrient for some microorganisms and plants that have enzymes with nickel as an active site.