Commercially Pure Nickel
Commercially pure nickel is 99 % or more Ni with traces of carbon, manganese and iron. It is soft and ductile — Nickel 200 yields about 150 MPa annealed with 45 % elongation — ferromagnetic up to its 360 °C Curie point, and strengthened only by cold work. What it offers is chemistry: it is practically inert in caustic soda and potash at every concentration up to boiling, in dry chlorine and hydrogen chloride to about 540 °C, and in food, pharmaceutical and high-purity-water service where it adds no colour or taste.
Popular commercially pure nickel grades
Compare in the explorer| Grade | Yield, MPa | Tensile, MPa | Density, g/cm³ | Machinability | Weldability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickel 200 | 148 | 462 | 8.89 | Fair | Excellent | Caustic and chlorine service to 315 °C; the default |
| Nickel 201 | 105 | 415 | 8.89 | Poor | Excellent | Low-carbon nickel for service above 315 °C |
| Nickel 205 | 145 | 440 | 8.89 | Poor | Very good | Electronic and vacuum-tube parts |
| Nickel 211 | 210 | 480 | 8.72 | Poor | Very good | Spark-plug electrodes, sulfur-bearing atmospheres |
| Nickel 270 | 105 | 345 | 8.89 | Poor | Excellent | Highest-purity, softest nickel for electronics |
| Nickel Beryllium 360 | 1,240 | 1,650 | 8.26 | Poor | Fair | Highest-strength nickel spring alloy |
| Alloy 242 | 375 | 805 | 9.05 | Poor | Good | Age-hardenable Hastelloy grade |
All 12 commercially pure nickel grades
Choose commercially pure nickel for
Caustic-soda and caustic-potash equipment, chlorine and hydrogen-chloride handling below 540 °C, food and pharmaceutical process hardware, electroplating anodes and cathode bars, battery and electronic components, magnetostrictive transducers and any part that must be a pure nickel surface rather than an alloy.
Look elsewhere when
The part carries load — Monel 400 doubles the strength in the same seawater and acid service, Monel K500 triples it; the environment is an oxidizing acid or hot chloride (Hastelloy C276 or Inconel 625); the temperature exceeds about 600 °C in air (Inconel 600 or Inconel 601); or the job is simply corrosion resistance in mild media, where 316L stainless costs a fraction.
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Commercially pure nickel by application
- Caustic and chlorine equipment
- Nickel 200 plate, tube and forgings for evaporators, reactors and valve trim; Nickel 201 for the same equipment above 315 °C, including molten caustic and chlorine drying.
- Food and pharmaceutical hardware
- Nickel 200 for process parts in fatty acids, fluorosilicates and high-purity water, where it neither pits nor leaches; electropolished for cleanability.
- Electronic and electrical parts
- Nickel 205 and Nickel 270 for anodes, grids, lead wires, battery tabs and cladding; Nickel 211 for spark-plug and glow-plug electrodes in sulfur-bearing combustion gas.
Working with commercially pure nickel
- Machining
- Soft, gummy and work-hardening — it behaves like an austenitic stainless at about 60 % of the speed. Sharp positive tools, heavy positive feeds, rigid setups and sulfurized cutting oil keep the tool under the work-hardened layer; never let the tool dwell. Cold-drawn stock machines better than annealed.
- Welding
- Welds readily by TIG, MIG or SMAW with ERNi-1 or ENi-1 filler, with no preheat and no post-weld treatment. Cleanliness is everything: sulfur, lead and zinc from marking inks, lubricants or plating embrittle nickel welds, so degrease and grind to bright metal first.
- Forming and heat treatment
- Forms, spins and deep-draws like a stiff copper; strength is set by cold work, from about 150 MPa annealed to 600 MPa hard-drawn. Anneal at 700–870 °C in a sulfur-free atmosphere. There is no hardening heat treatment except for Nickel Beryllium 360, which is aged after forming.
Other nickel alloy series
Commercially Pure Nickel — frequently asked
What is commercially pure nickel?
Commercially pure nickel is 99 % or more Ni with traces of carbon, manganese and iron. It is soft and ductile — Nickel 200 yields about 150 MPa annealed with 45 % elongation — ferromagnetic up to its 360 °C Curie point, and strengthened only by cold work. What it offers is chemistry: it is practically inert in caustic soda and potash at every concentration up to boiling, in dry chlorine and hydrogen chloride to about 540 °C, and in food, pharmaceutical and high-purity-water service where it adds no colour or taste.
Which grade of commercially pure nickel should I use?
Nickel 200 for most parts: caustic evaporators, tanks, valve trim, food-processing hardware and plating anodes up to 315 °C. Nickel 201 (0.02 % carbon max) above 315 °C, where the higher carbon of Nickel 200 precipitates as graphite at the grain boundaries and embrittles it — the same alloy otherwise. Nickel 205 for electronic and vacuum parts (anodes, grids, lead wires) where controlled magnesium and low gas content matter; Nickel 270 (99.98 %) when the purest, softest, most conductive nickel is wanted for electronic components and cladding. Nickel 211 carries 4.75 % manganese to resist sulfur attack and is the spark-plug electrode grade. Nickel Beryllium 360 is the one age-hardening member, a spring alloy with the strength of beryllium copper and the corrosion resistance of nickel.
Which grade of commercially pure nickel is the strongest?
Nickel Beryllium 360 has the highest yield strength in the series at 1,240 MPa; Alloy 242 follows at 375 MPa. Values are for each grade's default condition.
Which grade of commercially pure nickel is easiest to machine?
ENi-1 (machinability fair, 42/100), then Ni Briquette (42/100).
Nickel 200 or Nickel 201?
Nickel 201 whenever the part runs above 315 °C, and Nickel 200 otherwise. The two are chemically identical except for carbon (0.15 % max in 200, 0.02 % max in 201); above about 315 °C the carbon in Nickel 200 slowly precipitates as graphite at grain boundaries and the metal loses ductility. Nickel 201 is slightly softer and easier to form, so some deep-drawn parts specify it even for cold service; most mills dual-certify sheet as 200/201 anyway.
Is pure nickel magnetic?
Yes — Nickel 200 and 201 are ferromagnetic at room temperature, with a Curie point near 360 °C above which they become paramagnetic. This is why nickel is used for magnetostrictive transducers and why it cannot be used where a non-magnetic corrosion-resistant part is needed; for that, Monel K500 (Curie point around −130 °C) or Inconel 625 are the non-magnetic choices.