Copper - Other uses are for plumbing, in spite of extensive use of plasitc pipe - plastic can't handle the pressure. Copper has the fantastic advantage of ductility, and can be bent with maunual forces and a fixture, so it will fit the application.
There 3 major uses of the thermal properties of copper - air conditoners, refrigerators, and automotive radiators.
Major part of brass (copper and zinc) and bronze (copper and tin)
Note how much copper is tied to new construction.
I think branch wiring is still the biggest use, but the other uses are significant.
Nickle has two recent drivers - 1) a fashion trend towards stainless steel applicance skins, like stainless refigerator doors. With the cost of stainless up, many applicance makers are using brushed aluminum.
2) The use of stainless steel for oil and gas infrastructure.
Stainless has about 15-35% Nickle, depending on the type.
This will be everywhere, not just China. Oil and gas pipeline to Alaska / MacKenzie Delta will use lots of stainlees, thus lots of Ni. LNG tankers use Invar, which is about 505 Nickle.
There's a Nickle Institue which has a free quarterly brouchure of fun things you can do with Nickle in industry and architecture.
(Doesn't that sound like fun ?)
Both Nickle and Copper had periods of very high prices 30 years ago, which lead to a search for subsitute materials, such as plastics and aluminum house wiring. Since the subsitutes have already grabbed market share, higher Cu and Ni prices may not cause loss of demand because of subsitution, meaning the price may not be hledoa |
