Nickel silver - Definition and Overview

Nickel silver is an alloy of copper with nickel and often but not always zinc. It is named for its appearance, and normally contains no silver; Many such alloys would be more properly called nickel bronze.

Some nickel silver alloys, especially those containing high proportions of zinc, are stainless.

It is used as a base metal for silver plated cutlery and other silverware, notably the electroplated wares called EPNS.

It is used in jewellery, cymbal making and many industrial applications. It is valuable for electrically-powered outdoor model railway layouts as its oxide is conductive.

Nickel-silver alloys are commonly named by listing their percentages of copper and nickel, thus "Nickel Silver 55-18" would contain 55% copper, 18% nickel, and 27% other elements, most probably entirely zinc. A two-element alloy may be named for its nickel content alone, thus NS-12 is 88% copper and 12% nickel.

See also cupronickel.