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The Origin of Nickel

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History of Nickel Called Devil’s Copper (Kupfevnickel)

A.F. Cronstedt, a Swedish mineralogist, separated nickel from a mineral specimen brought from Germany in 1751. The first nickel that he acquired was so similar to copper that it was difficult to distinguish it from copper at a glance. As it was treated as a copper pipe that cannot be smelted at that time, it was nicknamed as Kupfevnicke meaning Devil’s Copper. German mine workers came up with the nickname considering it as Nick Alt, a legendary mischievous spirit known to appear in remote mine and haze miners.

  • Element
    Symbol
    Ni
  • Element
    Number
    28
  • Melting
    Point
    1,455℃
  • Boiling
    Point
    2,732℃
  • Specific
    Gravity
    8.845

Reasons why nickel is more expensive than other alloying elements such as copper (Cu), aluminum(AI) & chrome(CR)

01. Nickel, a metal that is difficult to separate
Nickel is usually mixed with copper in the natural environment, and the two metals are so close to each other that they need to go through numerous complicated processes in order to separate them from each other. For this reason, some smelters called nickel as ‘Mountain Devil’ until early 20th century. Since it was so difficult to extract pure nickel, they thought that Mountain Devils hid themselves in the metal to get cross with them. That is why nickel became a rare metal despite sufficient nickel reserves on earth.
02. Limitless value of nickel
In addition to excellent properties that has been already proved in stainless steel, nickel is playing an active role in various areas. In particular, it is considered as the best alloying element in the special alloy sector on the back of beautiful luster and corrosion resistance, and it is expected to continue to remain as the darling of the metal material industry in the future.

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