METHOD OF MANUFACTURING FOR NICKEL POWDER RESISTANT TO OXIDATION AND SINTERING

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing for a nickel powder having spherical particle shape, smooth surface, and 0.1-1 μm average particle size, containing no coarse particle of >2 μm particle size, having narrow particle size distribution, free from agglomeration, increased in dispersibility, excellent in crystallinity, hardly oxidized by heating in the air, having heat shrinkage characteristic close to that of a dielectric, and accordingly suitable for use, in particular, as an inner electrode material for a multilayer ceramic capacitor. SOLUTION: The nickel powder resistant to oxidation and sintering can be manufactured by coating a nickel powder as raw material with the hydroxide of at least one element selected from group IIA and IVA elements of the periodic table and rare earth elements, performing heating to 400-1,000 deg.C in a nonoxidizing or reducing atmosphere, and pickling thus heat treated nickel powder to allow a part of the above elements to remain in the nickel particles.