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Cupronickel
 
 
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Cupronickel (sometimes incorrectly written as Cupernickel) or Coppernickel is an alloy
Alloy

An alloy is a partial or complete solid solution of one or more chemical element in a metallic matrix. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may be homogeneous in distribution depending on thermal history....
 of copper
Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
, nickel
Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
 and strengthening impurities, such as iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
 and manganese
Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a Oxidation state in nature , and in many minerals....
. Cupronickel does not corrode
Corrosion

Corrosion means the breaking down of essential properties in a material due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means a loss of electrons of metals reacting with water and oxygen....
 in seawater
Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%, or 35 parts per thousand . This means that every 1 kg of seawater has approximately 35 grams of sea salt ....
, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater. Because of this it is used for marine hardware, and sometimes for the propeller
Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan which transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. It can be used to drive an fixed-wing aircraft, ship, or the fluid within a pump....
s, crankshaft
Crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank , is the part of an engine which translates reciprocation linear piston motion into rotation....
s and hull
Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking....
s of premium tugboat
Tugboat

A tugboat, or tug, is a boat used to maneuver, primarily by towing or pushing, other ships in harbors, over the open sea or through rivers and canals....
s, fishing boats and other working boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
s.

A common use is in many silver-coloured modern circulation coin
Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material, usually in the shape of a Disk , and most often issued by a government....
s.






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Encyclopedia


Cupronickel (sometimes incorrectly written as Cupernickel) or Coppernickel is an alloy
Alloy

An alloy is a partial or complete solid solution of one or more chemical element in a metallic matrix. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may be homogeneous in distribution depending on thermal history....
 of copper
Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
, nickel
Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
 and strengthening impurities, such as iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
 and manganese
Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a Oxidation state in nature , and in many minerals....
. Cupronickel does not corrode
Corrosion

Corrosion means the breaking down of essential properties in a material due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means a loss of electrons of metals reacting with water and oxygen....
 in seawater
Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%, or 35 parts per thousand . This means that every 1 kg of seawater has approximately 35 grams of sea salt ....
, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater. Because of this it is used for marine hardware, and sometimes for the propeller
Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan which transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. It can be used to drive an fixed-wing aircraft, ship, or the fluid within a pump....
s, crankshaft
Crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank , is the part of an engine which translates reciprocation linear piston motion into rotation....
s and hull
Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking....
s of premium tugboat
Tugboat

A tugboat, or tug, is a boat used to maneuver, primarily by towing or pushing, other ships in harbors, over the open sea or through rivers and canals....
s, fishing boats and other working boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
s.

A common use is in many silver-coloured modern circulation coin
Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material, usually in the shape of a Disk , and most often issued by a government....
s. A typical mix is 75% copper, 25% nickel
Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
, and a trace amount of manganese
Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a Oxidation state in nature , and in many minerals....
. In the past true silver
Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
 coins were debased
Debasement

Debasement is the practice of lowering the value of currency. It is particularly used in connection with commodity money such as gold or silver coins....
 with cupronickel. Despite high copper content the colour of cupro-nickel is silver.

It is used in thermocouple
Thermocouple

A thermocouple is a junction between two different metals that produces a voltage related to a temperature difference. Thermocouples are a widely used type of list of temperature sensors and can also be used to convert heat into electric power....
s, and a 55% copper/45% nickel alloy is used to make very accurate resistor
Resistor

|- align = "center"||width = "25"|| |- align = "center"||| Potentiometer|- align = "center"| || |- align = "top"| Resistor|| Variable resistor...
s.

Monel
Monel

Monel is a trademark of Special Metals Corporation for a series of nickel alloys, primarily composed of nickel and copper, with some iron and other trace elements....
 metal is a nickel-copper alloy, containing minimum 63% nickel.

See also bronze
Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other chemical element such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon....
 (copper alloyed with tin
Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as an oxide, SnO2....
), brass
Brass

Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin....
 (copper alloyed with zinc
Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
), and nickel silver
Nickel silver

Nickel silver is a metal alloy of copper with nickel and often but not always zinc. It is named for its silvery appearance, but contains no elemental silver unless plated....
 (another group of copper-nickel alloys).

History

Pantaleon
The cupronickel alloy technology has been known by the Chinese
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 since the 3rd century BC under the name "white copper" (some weapons from the Warring States Period
Warring States Period

The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE....
 were in copper-nickel alloy

The Greco-Bactrian
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BCE....
 kings Agathocles
Agathocles of Bactria

Agathocles Dikaios , was a Buddhist Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BCE. He might have been a son of Demetrius I of Bactria and one of his sub-kings in charge of the Paropamisade between Bactria and India....
 and Pantaleon
Pantaleon

King Pantaleon reigned some time between 190 BCE - 180 BCE and is one of the most enigmatic of the Greek kings in Bactria and India. He was a younger contemporary or successor of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I of Bactria, and is sometimes believed to have been his brother and/or subking....
 were the first in the world to issue copper-nickel (75/25 ratio) coins around 170 BC, suggesting that exchanges of the metallic alloy, or possibly exchanges of technicians, were happening at the time between China and the region of Bactria
Bactria

Bactria is a historical region of Greater Iran. Known by the ancient Greeks as "Bactriana" the region is located between the range of the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya ; in later times, the region became known as Tokharistan. The name of the region has survived to present time in the name of Afghan province "Balkh"....
. The practice of exporting Chinese metals, in particular iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
, for trade is attested around that period.

Cupro-nickel was not used again in coinage until the 19th century. Cupro-nickel is the cladding
Cladding

Cladding is the covering of one material with another. It has different meanings depending on the context....
 on either side of United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 Half Dollars
Kennedy half dollar

Succeeding the Franklin half dollar, the Kennedy Half dollar is a United States coinage of the United States first minted in 1964, the year following the assassination of President John F....
 (50¢) since 1971, and all quarters
Quarter (United States coin)

A quarter dollar, commonly shortened to quarter, is a coin worth 1/4 of a United States United States dollar, or 25 Cent . The quarter has been produced since 1796....
 (25¢) and dimes
Dime (United States coin)

The dime is a United States coinage worth 50 cent or one tenth of a United States dollar. The dime is the smallest in diameter and the thinnest of all U.S....
 (10¢) made after 1965. Currently some circulating coins like the United States Jefferson Nickel
Nickel (United States coin)

The United States five-cent coin, commonly called a nickel, is a unit of currency equaling one-twentieth, or five hundredths, of a United States dollar....
 (5¢), the Swiss franc
Swiss franc

The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian Enclave and exclave Campione d'Italia....
, and the South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
n 500 won
South Korean won

The won is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. The jeon is not used anymore for everyday transactions, and appear only on foreign exchange rates....
 are made of solid cupro-nickel (75/25 ratio).

Beginning around the turn of the 20th century, bullet
Bullet

A bullet is a hard projectile propelled by a firearm, Sling , or air gun and is normally made from metal. A bullet does not contain explosives, but damages the intended target by tissue or mechanical disruption through impact or penetration....
 jackets were commonly made from this material. It was soon replaced with gilding metal
Gilding metal

Gilding metal is a copper alloy, comprising 95% copper and 5% zinc. Technically, it is a form of brass.Gilding metal is used for various purposes, including the cartridges of bullets, driving bands on some artillery shells, as well as enamelled badges and other jewellery....
 to reduce metal fouling in the bore.

Physical Properties

Cupro-nickel (70/30 ratio) melts at 1170C and has a density of 0.322 lbs/cu in.

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