Research Notes
Subject: World without Nickel
Gobel Use of nickel is currently: 68% in Stainless Steel, 10% in nonferrous (without
iron) alloys, 9% in electroplating, 7% in alloy steel, 3% in foundries, and 4% other
(including batteries)
Nickel is used to create permalloy (80% nickel and 20% iron), which is used as
magnetic cores in electrical equipment, as well as magnetic shielding
Nickel is used in most alloys to increase tensile strength, elastic limit, and toughness
It is widely used in many other alloys, including nickel brasses and bronzes and
alloys with copper, chromium, aluminium, lead, cobalt, silver, and gold (Inconel,
Incoloy, Monel, Nimonic).[80]
Nickel is used in many recognizable industrial and consumer products, including
stainless steel, alnico magnets, coinage, rechargeable batteries (e.g. nickel-iron),
electric guitar strings, microphone capsules, plating on plumbing fixtures,[90]
Nickel is an excellent alloying agent for certain precious metals and is used in the
fire assay as a collector of platinum group elements (PGE). As such, nickel can fully
collect all six PGEs from ores, and can partially collect gold. High-throughput nickel
mines may also do PGE recovery (mainly platinum and palladium); examples are
Norilsk, Russia and the Sudbury Basin, Canada.[92]
Nickel foam or nickel mesh is used in gas diffusion electrodes for alkaline fuel
cells.[93][94]
Ni, with a half-life of 100.1 years, is useful in krytron devices as a beta particle
(high-speed electron) emitter to make ionisation by the keep-alive electrode more
reliable.[100] It is being investigated as a power source for betavoltaic batteries.[101][102]
Around 27% of all nickel production is used for engineering, 10% for building and
construction, 14% for tubular products, 20% for metal goods, 14% for transport, 11%
for electronic goods, and 5% for other uses.[9]
Raney nickel is widely used for hydrogenation of unsaturated oils to make
margarine, and substandard margarine and leftover oil may contain nickel as a
contaminant. Forte et al. found that type 2 diabetic patients have 0.89 ng/mL of Ni
in the blood relative to 0.77 ng/mL in control subjects.[103]
Nickel titanium is an alloy of roughly equal atomic percentages of its constituent
metals which exhibits two closely related and unique properties: the shape memory
effect and superelasticity.
An estimated 3.3 million tonnes (t) of nickel per year are mined worldwide; Indonesia
(1,600,000 t), the Philippines (330,000 t), Russia (220,000 t), New Caledonia (France)
(190,000 t), Australia (160,000 t) and Canada (130,000 t) are the largest producers as
of 2022.[71]
Nickel alloys are used extensively in nuclear reactor applications because they have
high strength and good corrosion properties. Source
Nickel is also an micronutrient essential for proper functioning of the human body,
as it increases hormonal activity and is involved in lipid metabolism. This metal
makes its way to the human body through the respiratory tract, digestive system
and skin. Source
Nickel is also a essential for plants, it used urease to to catalyse the conversion of
urea into Ammonium Ion, which plants use as a source of nitrogen, nickel is
accumulated in plant organs, or tissues source
Nickel makes up 0.009% of the Earth's crust, or 2,250,00 tons of Nickel are still in the
Earth’s crust Source: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Circa 2016-2017
Although nickel (Ni) is a minor element of the Earth's crust, it has played a major
role in the evolution of life. This metal is a component of the active sites of several
archaeal and bacterial anaerobic enzymes essential for bioenergy processes such
as H2 and CO oxidation and CO2 fixation. Source