Nickel
Nickel which has a hard but brittle structure is a white silvery metal with a lustrous appearance and constitutes about 0.008% of the Earth’s crust. Nickel, throughout the history, had an important role in daily life of humankind. According to the historical records, nickel usage goes back to 3500 B.C. However due to its appearance; it was easily mistaken for silver during early ages, therefore no specific information about nickel is available before the first century B.C. Nickel was first identified by Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt in 1751 during his studies for copper.
First industrial scale nickel production took place in 1848, in Norway. In 1889, nickel was introduced to steel production as an additive element and has become one of the today’s most important metals, since then.
Today, the demand for nickel is driven by stainless steel industry, due to its high resistance to oxidation. Production of alloy metals, coating and casting are the other application areas of nickel. To a lower extent, nickel is also used in the production of electronic appliances, batteries and coins.
Fields of Nickel Usage:
Resource: Nickel Institute,