Cunife is an

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...

(Cu),

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

(Ni),

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

(Fe), and in some cases

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, ...

(Co). The alloy has the same linear

coefficient of expansion Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change its shape, area, volume, and density in response to a change in temperature, usually not including phase transitions. Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular ...

as certain types of glass, and thus makes an ideal material for the lead out wires in light bulbs and

thermionic valve A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

s. Fernico exhibits a similar property. It is a

magnetic alloy A magnetic alloy is a combination of various metals from the periodic table such as ferrite that contains at least one of the three main magnetic elements: iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), or cobalt (Co) etc.. Such an alloy must contain but is not lim ...

and can be used for making

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nic ...

s. Cunife has a magnetic

coercivity Coercivity, also called the magnetic coercivity, coercive field or coercive force, is a measure of the ability of a ferromagnetic material to withstand an external magnetic field without becoming demagnetized. Coercivity is usually measured in ...

of several hundred

oersted The oersted (symbol Oe) is the coherence (units of measurement), coherent derived unit of the Magnetic field#The H-field, auxiliary magnetic field H in the centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). It is equivalent to 1 dyne per maxwell ...

s. Unlike most high coercivity magnetic materials which are hard and brittle and need to be

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

into shape, cunife can be drawn into thin wires. Wires as thin as five

thou The word ''thou'' is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word '' you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou'' is the ...

can be produced this way. Thicker rods of the material can be threaded which is also something that is not possible with the more commonly used magnetic materials. In the early 1970s,

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturing company, manufacturer of Musical instrument, instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equip ...

used Cunife magnets in their Wide Range humbucking pickups, however they discontinued use, due to Cunife being hard to source. Fender began producing cunife pickups again in 2020.

Typical compositions

Given in weight %

References

External links

National Pollutant Inventory - Copper and compounds fact sheet
{{industry-stub Copper alloys Magnetic alloys