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The fact alone that it's lighter than titanium is a big deal. That's great. But, too bad that nickel is toxic as hell, and many people are allergic to it. So,
by dschuetz 8y ago
The fact alone that it's lighter than titanium is a big deal. That's great.
But, too bad that nickel is toxic as hell, and many people are allergic to it. So, I guess it's the biggest trade-off when compared to titanium.
- IshKebab 8y ago"Some people have an allergic reaction to it" is hardly "toxic as hell".
- Finnucane 8y agoI think we can put nickel in the "do not eat" category: https://rais.ornl.gov/tox/profiles/nickel_and_nickel_compounds_f_V1.html https://rais.ornl.gov/tox/profiles/nickel_and_nickel_compoun...
- jessaustin 8y agoYes, in that sense it is worse than e.g. iron. One can still imagine applications that don't carry a high risk of ingestion or inhalation.
- dschuetz 8y agoIt's both, toxic and an allergen.
- Kalium 8y agoYou're right! Let me see if I can clarify the original point. Nickel is both toxic when ingested and often a contact allergen. Thus the two points are independently true of one another and in no way contradictory. I hope this has been helpful.
- njarboe 8y agoWhat generally happens to kids that find a US nickel on the ground/floor and swallow it without their parents notice? This must have happened a million of times.
- Kalium 8y agoBased on the documentation provided by a sibling comment, I think the answer is that ingestion of the metallic form is not so bad. It's some nickel compounds and inhalation that are particularly dangerous. Again, the document posted by a sibling (https://rais.ornl.gov/tox/profiles/nickel_and_nickel_compounds_f_V1.html https://rais.ornl.gov/tox/profiles/nickel_and_nickel_compoun...) likely contains all the detail you could wish for. Also, nickels are about 75% copper.
- wincy 8y agoNot a kid, but I’m allergic to nickel and my daughter threw some quarters in my bed. I didn’t realize it and slept with a quarter burning a hole into my side. I woke up with a quarter-shaped rash that lasted about a week.
- sitkack 8y agoThis is like the reverse of a super power.
- joe_the_user 8y agoWell, certainly, nickel is toxic, like many metals. But OP's point was "toxic as hell" which seems simply wrong in any kind of context. I haven't seen evidence searching or here that nickel is more toxic than many commonly used metals and thus there seems like zero backing at all for worries about using some super strong nickel-based material. Indeed, nickel-based structural materials are used with some frequency. Whether the material's good properties pan-out is another question, of course.
- marcosdumay 8y agoIt's very toxic if ingested or breathed. Some people have allergic reactions on touch.
- lkbm 8y agoI would assume "light and strong" is mostly valuable for frames of cars, building, and airplanes, not the parts people lick or come in contact with all that much. Ultra-light backpackers will still need to use titanium for their spoons, but if an airplane can cut down on its weight, that's worth a lot.
- gumby 8y agoAs an ULBP I don't use metal spoons because they function really poorly in freezing conditions. Bamboo works as well for me...actually I try to eat things that don't need any more tools than my knife.
- snowwrestler 8y agoTitanium spoons for backpackers are just silly. If you want a metal utensil, aluminum is even lighter than titanium. Titanium is tougher but it's not like your utensil is a load-bearing beam. Plastic utensils are even lighter than aluminum and don't transmit heat as fast or get as cold in the cold. Wood utensils are good too.
- lenticular 8y agoTitanium is mainly just a marketing thing for consumer products. It's not really a broadly useful material in the same way steel is. Expensive, difficult to machine or weld, etc. Advances in steel alloys have reduced the strength/weight advantage to be minimal or nonexistent. It's good for some things though, most notably high temperature applications like gas turbine blades.
- zafka 8y agoTitanium is used for medical implants as it is bio-compatible.
- tropo 8y agoThey are luxury, but not silly. Aluminum disintegrates in acidic food. It has been associated with Alzheimer's disease. It can crack. Wood can not be cleaned, it splits, and it even has slivers. Plastic melts or burns. Plastic cracks. Plastic gets discolored, often by foods that contain both oil and tomatoes. BPA has been a problem, and the substitutes in BPA-free plastic are sometimes suspected of being worse.
- jobu 8y ago> nickel is toxic as hell, and many people are allergic to it Unfortunately that doesn't stop companies from making loads of cheap jewelry and eyeglasses out of nickel alloys. And there are lots of applications where a nickel allergy doesn't matter. Golf clubs have rubber grips. Airplanes have walls, carpets and seats between people and the structure. A quick google search puts the price of nickel at $5.39/lb and titanium at $25.68/lb, so it would be a huge reduction in material costs if they can keep the manufacturing costs relatively similar.
- joe_the_user 8y agoNickel may indeed be poisonous but given that actual all-nickel coins once circulated, (knows as ... nickles), I'd guess it's not like osmium or something which it can be deadly to be in the same room as. Nickel isn't listed in Wikipedia's list of metal toxicities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_toxicity
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- njarboe 8y agoUS nickels are still 25% nickel.
- njarboe 8y agoUS nickels have had the same composition (75% copper and 25% nickel) since first being issued in 1866. Hopefully people who feel that using it as a structural metal is a bad idea due to its toxicity are quite wrong and hundreds of millions of Americans are not touching a high toxic metal every day. We once put lead in gasoline, so who knows for sure. Get rid of nickels and the US average IQ goes up a point?