Nickel silver

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Nickel brass
)

"German silver" hair comb by Bruce Caesar

Nickel silver, maillechort, German silver,[1] argentan,[1] new silver,[1] nickel brass,[2] albata,[3] or alpacca[4] is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc.[5] Nickel silver does not contain the element silver. It is named for its silvery appearance, which can make it attractive as a cheaper and more durable substitute. It is also well suited for being plated with silver.

A naturally occurring ore composition in China was smelted into the alloy known as paktong or báitóng (白銅) ('white copper' or

ASTM B122) contain significant amounts of zinc and are sometimes considered a subset of brass.[9]

History

Tracing a cross onto a piece of crude nickel silver at a workshop in San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico

Nickel silver was first used in

Jābir ibn Hayyān.[12]

In Europe, consequently, it was at first called paktong, which is about the way baitong is pronounced in the Cantonese dialect.[13] The earliest European mention of paktong occurs in the year 1597. From then until the end of the eighteenth century there are references to it as having been exported from Canton to Europe.[13]

German artificial recreation of the natural paktong ore composition, however, began to appear from about 1750 onward.

Birmingham, England.[15]

After the modern process for the production of electroplated nickel silver was patented in 1840 by George Richards Elkington and his cousin Henry Elkington in Birmingham, the development of electroplating caused nickel silver to become widely used. It formed an ideal, strong and bright substrate for the plating process. It was also used unplated in applications such as cutlery.[citation needed]

Uses

Nickel silver pieces from the Ruth Cortez Rodriguez workshop in Mexico

Nickel silver first became popular as a base metal for silver-plated

GDR marks
). Its industrial and technical uses include marine fittings and plumbing fixtures for its corrosion resistance, and heating coils for its high electrical resistance.

In the nineteenth century, particularly after 1868, North American

dush-tuhs, and tiaras.[16] Nickel silver is the metal of choice among contemporary Kiowa and Pawnee in Oklahoma. Many of the metal fittings on modern higher-end equine harness and tack
are of nickel silver.

Early in the twentieth century, German silver was used by automobile manufacturers before the advent of steel sheet metal. For example, the famous Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost of 1907. After about 1920, it became widely used for pocketknife bolsters, due to its machinability and corrosion resistance. Prior to this, the most common metal was iron.

19th century banjos used German silver rims over wood for tonal quality and appearance

Musical instruments, including the

reeds
are tied.

Many parts of brass instruments are made of nickel silver, such as tubes, braces or valve mechanism. Trombone slides of many manufacturers offer a lightweight nickel silver (LT slide) option for faster slide action and weight balance.

great highland bagpipe
.

Willem Lenssinck, Formula 1 Racing Horse

Nickel silver is also used in artworks. The Dutch sculptor Willem Lenssinck has made several pieces from German silver. Outdoors art made from this material easily withstands all kinds of weather.

Fraudulent uses

Counterfeiters have used nickel silver to produce coins and medallions purporting to be

silver rounds, generally in an attempt to trick unsuspecting buyers into paying prices based on the spot price of silver. The metal has also been used to produce counterfeit Morgan dollars.[citation needed
]

Nickel silver fraud has included the production of replica bullion bars, marked "nickel silver" or "German silver", in weights of one troy ounce (31 g). They are sold without notification that they contain no elemental silver.[citation needed]

Toxicity

According to the Merck Manual, prolonged contact of copper alloys with acidic food or beverages (including boiling milk) can leach out the copper and cause toxicity.[24] Long-term, low doses can lead to cirrhosis. It is also the case that many people have allergic reactions to nickel, causing a weeping rash that will not heal as long as the metal is in contact with the skin.[citation needed]

See also

  • Argentium sterling silver – sounds similar to "argentan" but is a very different precious white metal (Argentium Sterling = 92.5% silver + 7.5% copper and germanium) which remains untarnished much longer than plain Sterling
  • Britannia silver (95.833% silver, the rest usually being copper)
  • Britannia metal (approx. 93% tin, 5% antimony, and 2% copper)
  • Cupronickel
  • Sheffield plate

References

  1. ^ .
  2. .
  3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
  4. ^ Marks of Berndorf Metalware Factory in Austria – Marks of Alpacca and Alpacca-Silver II Products: an article for ASCAS – Association of Small Collectors of Antique Silver website. Ascasonline.org. Retrieved on 2013-12-19.
  5. ^ Tim McCreight, The Complete Metalsmith.
  6. ^ Samuel J. Rosenberg. Nickel and its alloys. Vol. Monograph, 106. National Bureau of Standards. p. 8.6.
  7. ^ Keith Pinn, Paktong: The Chinese Alloy in Europe
  8. ^ , pp. 237–250
  9. ^ Nickel Silver – retrieved 19 April 2010.
  10. ^ Oberg, Erik; Jones, Franklin Day (1917). Machinery's Encyclopedia. The Industrial Press ; [etc., etc.] p. 412. The alloy came originally from China, where its composition is said to have been known
  11. ^ Dwight Dana, James (1869). Manual of Mineralogy. p. 265. smuggled into various parts of the East Indies... and is not allowed to be carried out of the empire
  12. ^ Holmyard, E. J. (1957). Alchemy, p. 80. New York: Dover.
  13. ^ a b c Derk Bodde, "China's Gifts to the West". Columbia University.
  14. .
  15. .
  16. ., pp. 290–293.
  17. ^ [1] Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ [2][dead link]
  19. ^ [3] Archived 4 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Quantz505 – Pearl Flute Worldwide Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Pearlflute.com. Retrieved on 2013-12-19.
  21. ^ Elegante – Pearl Flute Worldwide Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Pearlflute.com. Retrieved on 2013-12-19.
  22. ^ [4] Archived 6 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Bach > Professional Bb Tenor Trombones > Viewing Model LT16M Archived 16 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Bachbrass.com. Retrieved on 2013-12-19.
  24. ^ Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 17th ed., p. 56

External links