Metal nickel is mainly used in the electroplating industry. Nickel-plated items are beautiful, clean, and not easy to rust. Very fine nickel powder is often used as a catalyst in the chemical industry.
Nickel is used in large quantities to make alloys. Adding nickel to steel can improve mechanical strength.
Titanium-nickel alloy has the ability of “memory”, and the memory is firm. After a long time, it can be repeated tens of millions of times without error. Its “memory” ability is to remember its original shape, so people call it “shape memory alloy”.
Nickel is magnetic and is attracted to magnets. Alloys made of aluminium, cobalt, and nickel are even more vital. When an electromagnet attracts this alloy, it will not only be attracted by itself but also by things sixty times heavier than it will not fall if it is hung under it. In this way, it can be used to create an electromagnetic crane.
Nickel salts are primarily green. Nickel hydroxide is brown-black, and nickel oxide is grey-black. Nickel oxide is often used to make iron-nickel alkaline batteries.