Nickel is a silvery-white metal with excellent mechanical strength and ductility. It is insoluble in water, has strong resistance to acids and alkalis, but is readily soluble in dilute nitric acid and aqua regia. High-temperature resistant, melting point 1455 °C, boiling point 2730 °C. The density is 8.902g/cm³. It can be used to make currency and so on. When plated on other metals, it can prevent rusting.
Nickel has excellent plasticity, corrosion resistance and magnetic properties, and is therefore mainly used in fields such as steel, nickel-based alloys, electroplating and batteries. It is widely applied in various military manufacturing industries such as aircraft and radar, civil machinery manufacturing and electroplating industries. Nickel composite materials can be used as catalysts in hydrogenation and methane synthesis in petrochemicals. Their advantage is that they are not easily poisoned by H2S and SO2.