Nickel is a high strength, glossy metal that appears silvery-white in color. One can find this metal everywhere, from TV remote batteries, coins, mobile phones, bathroom taps to stainless steel kitchen sinks.
Mining & Production of Nickel
Oxides, sulphides and silicates are the three most natural forms of nickel. Every year, more than two million tonnes of new/ primary nickel are produced, which are used as pure nickel metal, nickel oxides, ferro-nickel as well as other chemicals. Nickel is extracted following different techniques from different nickel ores. Over 25 countries today mine nickel-containing ores.
Applications
One of the best and most commonly used metal alloys today is Nickel. As per the reports presented by the Nickel Institute, 300,000 different products are manufactured making use of nickel.
Stainless Steel: Stainless steel is one of the first-use nickel products. From the total production, around 65% nickel is used in the production of stainless steel. Other first-use products that are processed to be used are non ferrous alloys, alloy steels & castings, plating, batteries, etc.
The end-use sectors that source nickel are transport, electronics, building & construction, engineering, pulp & paper, healthcare, consumer products, to name a few.
Nickel Sheet/Cathode Production
The Nickel Sheet/Cathode comprises Ni : 99.% min. Sheet is formed using nickel billets, ingots, bars and other nickel products of different shapes. For sheet metal production, processes namely casting, hot rolling, extrusion and drawing are employed, hot or cold roll forming being the most common and widely used technique. In this common technique, the stock nickel (at room temperature or heated), goes through rollers, which compress the different shapes of metal into a sheet. The desired thickness, length, gauge and width are also attained as per the need while compressing nickel ingots, bars, etc., into rollers. After purchasing for diverse application, sheets undergo various processes like punching, stamping, folding, cutting, slitting and metal spinning to make the final piece.
Brands we deal in : RPM, Russian - (Severo, Nornickel ), Vale Inco, Jintuo Jinchuan, Sumitomo, Falcon , Harjavalta
