Exploring Our Nickel Product Range
Introducing our Nickel Product Range
Nickel is a versatile transition metal that plays an important role in modern industry, across a wide range of industrial and technological applications. The fifth most abundant element on Earth, nickel is found predominately in the Earth’s core, constituting 5.8% by mass of the core, alongside iron at ~89% by mass. Nickel is typically extracted from the Earth’s crust as magmatic sulphide and lateritic silicate-oxide deposits, with additional occurrences found in meteorite deposits, where it frequently exists in alloyed form with iron.
The Global Role of Nickel in Modern Industry
Nickel ores are mined in 25 countries across five continents, and smelted or refined across 26 countries. As of 2024, global nickel production reached an estimated 3.7 million tonnes, with production rates more than doubling since 2010. This substantial increase reflects expanding demand across numerous sectors. Globally, nickel is utilised in over 300,000 products and over 3000 types of alloys.
Around 65% goes towards producing stainless steel, which has a vast number of uses; it underpins global infrastructure and architecture, as well as many industrial processes. The remaining nickel production goes towards batteries (~15%), other alloys (~8%), and electroplating (~6%), with a wide scope of applications. It plays a part in industries including construction and decoration, automotive and aerospace, fabrication and welding, power and renewable energy, and electronic and chemical engineering.
Nickel's Unique Properties
Nickel has a number of unique properties, which make it indispensable by itself and within alloys to create durable, high-performing materials. It is a silvery-white transition metal, known for being one of the four metals that are ferromagnetic at room temperature.
In industrial applications, it is prized for its ability to function in extreme environments, demonstrating a high melting point, ductility, considerable strength, resistance to both high and low temperatures, as well as thermal and electrical conductivity. When exposed to air, a thin layer of nickel oxide forms on the metal surface, protecting the material from further corrosion or oxidation.
Furthermore, nickel demonstrates chemical stability, including resistance to alkalis, allowing it to be commonly used as a container for concentrated sodium hydroxide. It also reacts slowly with strong acids and with fluorine, with the latter trait making it useful for equipment handling corrosive fluorides or fluorine gas.
Nickel Material Forms
Nickel can be supplied in a range of physical and chemical forms, ranging from flakes to powders, granules to pellets, nickel oxide to nickel sulphate. The different forms are tailored for specific downstream applications, designed to match manufacturing processes, performance requirements and logistical needs. The choice of form directly impacts processing costs, product efficiency, handling protocols, and final product quality.
PI-KEM's Nickel Range
Overall, nickel plays an invaluable role in a wide range of industries, supporting manufacturing and driving innovation. At PI-KEM and PI-KEM Hart, we can supply a comprehensive range of high-purity nickel forms, precisely engineered to meet the strict demands of diverse applications.
Thanks to our distribution partnerships with trusted suppliers like Novamet, we can ensure exceptional quality, batch consistency and reliable supply of nickel products designed for advanced research applications. We can also support customised products that are specifically tailored to individual customer’s requirements.
Discover how our nickel solutions can accelerate your work. Explore our nickel ranges or contact our expert team on sales@pi-kem.co.uk to discuss how we can support for your next research breakthrough with bespoke and superior-quality materials.
