Pure Nickel or Nickel Plated Steel?

Is pure nickel strip worth the price? Four times more expensive but certainly not a quarter the resistivity.

[raedjaradat]

I agree, the usual critiq of nickle plated steel strips is that they have higher resistance than pure nickle ones, thus it can get hot in high amperage applications, but, you can always spot weld 2 nickle plated steel strips (or more) in parallel to decrease resistance for high amperage applications. Excelent video and nice explaination.

[medienmond]

You just have the right questions and look on the interesting Details and gadgets, just as myself. I have asked myself your thoughts so many times, now i know your Take on them and are NOT alone with my thoughts...
❤

[robfel]

Yes, please experiment and spotweld with Pure Nickle. I'm sure many are interested at the results.

[ciprianokritzinger]

This video confirmed my assumption. I used nickel strips to produce nickel acetate, what I got was a brownish color of the acetate instead of green. In addition when I nickelplated brass I got a black surface which I could easily polish off to get the nice nickel surface. I assumed there must be some other material within this nickel strips, this video gave me a clear answer.

[robpaultog]

Just a quick FYI for anyone wanting to test their strips. I saw someone mention the Dremel trick with sparks, the other is to scratch up the surface of the strip and leave in some salty water for a few hours (I usually do overnight) if it rusts it’s not pure nickel.

[rich]

It's more interesting if measuring AC resistance. The higher the frequency, the more the skin effect, the more the nickel plated steel will look like solid nickel.

[TechGorilla]

The last time I checked your channel you didn't have two nickels to rub together. Now you do.

I'll see myself out.

[BrettGossage]

...Thanks for the mention and yes, Rho is resistivity!

[simonandrewcrane]

What I notice is your probs are both touching Ni & the small amount of current passing though it will be taking the path of least resistance ie through the plating.

I'd say a better test would be to pass 5a through both strips & measure the voltage at both ends of the strip & use ohms law to calculate the resistance, that way the current would be too high to simply pass through the plating, the excess current then has to pass through the steel.

[universeisundernoobligatio]

Are the 2 strips the same thickness and width?
Check the zero reading of your meter to a thick copper bar, probes as close as possible without touching each other.
How do you know the quality of the nickel?

[frenchcreekvalley]

Isn't the nickel plated steel really 3 resistors in parallel? (2 of nickel, one of steel). Also, aren't the electrons supposed to run mostly on the surface of a material?

To tell the difference between the two, simply make a sharp bend. The nickel bends much more easily, IIRC.

[christopherleubner]

Easiest way to know is disolve in a mix of HCl and H2O2. Nickel will give an emerald green solution. Steel will give a brown solution. Also nickel will spot weld cleanly nickel plated steel will take a bit higher amps to spot weld.

[RoyvanLierop]

Nickel will result in less bandages on your hands.

[Simpson]

You should be able to tell the difference from the density. Nickel is 8908 kg/m³. Steel is quite a bit lower, usually around 8000 kg/m³.

[carlnikolov]

Use a grinding stone on a high setting if one sparks its steel underneath its steel. If not its nickel

[jamescs]

It will be interesting when high current used, I suspect a greater difference would be found with a few amps passing through it.

[alibro]

If you take a grinder or dremel to it the steel will give off sparks but the nickel will not.
I always use pure nickel for building battery packs as the price difference is not that much and when it comes to batteries every little helps. 😉

[sarkybugger]

Makes me wonder why they don't do nickel plated copper strip.

[lesliefranklin]

In a battery pack, sometimes you would want to spend the extra money to get a slightly better performance and/or safety. Hundreds of links that are more resistive and generate more heat might prevent a designer from going the cheaper route. Of course, it always comes down to use cases.

[tonyh]

Using a 2:1 ratio for steel:Ni resistivity, your measurements are commensurate with a Nickel plating thickness of .0167mm (16.7um) thick, which is a reasonable possibility. That's .0334mm of Ni in total (because it's plated both sides) plus .0666mm of steel. Given the Ni plated steel was 14.9mOhms, the pure Nickel should then be the 9.94mOhms you measured.

Is 16.7um of Ni plating plausible though given that .2um or less is easily possible and the Chinese are not exactly well known for delivering more than the barest minimum possible? I have no idea. I guess the minimum pratical thickness will be governed by other factors such as physical ppearance.

Power tool manufacturers have long been using plated steel for relatively high power applications, so clearly they see the cost benefit. Maybe they do use pure Nickel for the very highest power tools. However, for us hobbyists, the price difference is negligable compared to the price of the cells - 1p/cell for 25mm of pure Nickel strip v .5p/cell for plated steel (for small quantity pricing from Aliexpress).


So the selection, IMHO, should be made on reliability grounds rather than resistance, especillay for < 10A. Pure Nickel won't rust, but it almost certainly isn't as strong. Is it better at resisting fatigue failure due to vibration or temperature cycling (with the associated expansion/contraction stresses)? I don't know.