Nickel-iron is an iron alloy whose main components are nickel and iron, and contains a small amount of cobalt. Besides,ferronickel also contains carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, chromium, copper and other impurities. It is mainly used as nickel additive in steelmaking and cast iron.
The main application of nickel is to produce stainless steel and heat-resistant steel, except this,it can also be used by the production of alloy structural steel and alloy cast iron. Ferronickel has been used to replace part of nickel in the iron and steel industry. With the development of steelmaking and cast iron technology, nickel oxide is also used in special steel and alloy cast iron instead of part of nickel metal.
The quality of ferronickel depends not only on its nickel content, but also on the amount of harmful impurities contained in it. In ferronickel, whether it is smelted in a blast furnace or an electric furnace, impurities such as S, P, SI, and C will be produced. Some of them also contain impurities such as copper and titanium due to different mines. Since ferronickel is mainly used for stainless steel smelting, the level of impurities will affect the performance and quality of stainless steel. Generally, the lower the impurities, the better of the quality of ferronickle.
