The use of nickel in its pure form accounts for about 8% of total consumption. The main consumer of nickel is the metals industry, which offers a wide variety of alloys in which nickel is either an alloying element or the main component.

History

Nickel has been known for more than 200 years, although its alloys have been in use for almost as long. Since the Iron Age, nickel has occupied a special place with iron. These metals have accompanied each other in the native state, especially often in meteoric iron. The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India began using nickel alloys over 5,000 years ago. To this day, excavations in Egypt have found perfectly preserved pieces of meteoritic iron containing from 6 to 50-60% nickel. Ancient metallurgists intuitively understood the ennobling effect of nickel on alloys without knowing its chemical properties or how to obtain it in its pure form.

Since the middle of the 18th century, with the development of chemistry, many metals were isolated in their pure form, including nickel. The metals of group VIII (nickel group) were not the least important in substantiating the periodicity of the elements' properties. They have become a link between the elements of the main subgroup and of secondary groups (subgroup B), reflecting the tendency of changing the properties of the elements over periods.

After the discovery of large deposits of nickel in the 19th century, its industrial use began. It was found that nickel alloying increases the corrosion resistance of alloys, heat resistance, toughness and strength, and gives metals special electrical and magnetic properties. As industry developed, the need for steels and alloys with special properties arose. Nickel took the lead in creating new materials. By the end of the twentieth century more than 3000 different compositions of nickel alloys had been developed. Nowadays nickel has become a truly indispensable metal with remarkable prospects for further applications.

Use today

Nickel is in demand in modern mechanical and instrumentation engineering as a pure, corrosion-resistant and ferromagnetic material. In industrial chemistry, it is used as a catalyst. In electrical engineering - as a filler for powerful batteries. Pure nickel is indispensable for protective coatings that give metal surfaces a high chemical resistance. It is hard to overestimate the importance of this metal in alloying steels and alloys. A particularly successful combination of nickel alloys with chromium and iron. Nichromes and ferrochromes - heat-resistant corrosion- and acid-resistant alloys with high resistance are indispensable for heating elements of industrial electric furnaces and household appliances. Also of note are alloys with copper, beryllium and cobalt where nickel is needed as a binder. Nickel alloys play an important role in the nuclear power industry. They are used as protective cladding to protect uranium rods from corrosion in nuclear boilers.

Buy, price

Evek GmbH sells nickel and nickel alloys at the best price. It is formed taking into account the LME (London metal exchange) rates and depends on the technological features of production without including additional costs. All batches are certified. With us you can buy a variety of products for large-scale production. A wide choice, comprehensive advice of our managers, reasonable prices and prompt delivery determine the face of our company. In case of bulk purchase there is a system of discounts. We are waiting for your orders