Commercially Pure Nickel. Commercially
pure wrought nickel has good corrosion
resistance and mechanical properties. A combination
of good ductility and malleability, low
hardness, a low work-hardening rate, and good
weldability make the metal highly fabricable.
Good low-temperature ductility and impact
strength make it a useful material at cryogenic
temperatures. Nickel is also noted for very good
resistance to aqueous corrosion in certain environments.
The most common product is nickel
200 (N02200). It contains 99.6% Ni with small
amounts of iron, copper, manganese, silicon,
and carbon. It has found a wide variety of applications
involving caustic soda, water, nonoxidizing
acids, alkaline salt solutions, chlorine,
hydrogen chloride, fluorine, and molten salts.
Nickel has relatively high electrical and thermal
conductivity as well as a high Curie temperature
and good magnetostrictive properties. This
leads to use in many electrical and electronic
applications. Minor variations of residual elements
allow use in other specific applications,
such as automotive spark plugs