Nickel metal rarely works alone, and its role is sometimes subtle, but nickel has always made relevant technologies, processes and products shine. Nickel plays many roles, sometimes hard and sometimes soft, conductive and magnetic, adaptable to high or low temperatures, or even both. Nickel can be present in solid, solution or alloy form as required.
Every role played by nickel depends on its inherent properties, including the lesser-known role of micronutrients such as nickel-containing fertilizers; nickel-metal hydride and nickel-chromium batteries are less important in the public mind than lithium batteries , but few people know that in the modern energy storage industry, nickel has played a great role in the research of mainstream lithium chemical composition; the heat-resistant and noise-reducing nickel superalloy foam insulation materials used in jet engines can reduce The noise footprint of small aircraft has made the area around airports more habitable for humans; nickel-containing stainless steel has also opened up new fields of application to ensure that machinery and processes operate more efficiently and for longer.
Nickel is primarily used in the manufacture of stainless steel, but 8% of nickel is used in the manufacture of alloy steels, which together play an important role in thousands of engineered solutions. Nickel-containing alloy steels do not fall into the category of stainless steels, and alloy steels include a variety of iron-based materials with nickel content ranging from about 0.3% (some alloy steels) to about 20% (maraging steels).
Alloy steel has higher strength, hardness, wear resistance and toughness than ordinary carbon steel. It is generally used in power output, metal forming and cutting equipment, and can also be used in specific low temperature environments where carbon steel has insufficient toughness. Nickel-containing alloy steels play a vital role in tool and machine manufacturing. Alloy steels can be classified according to specific properties to suit specific end-uses, and although nickel is not used in as much as stainless steel production in these alloys, they are widely used and therefore an important enabler for the industry.
