Analysis of the current status and demand of nickel and nickel alloys. China's nickel resources mainly rely on imports
I. Overview of nickel resources
Nickel is a ferromagnetic metal element with excellent properties such as corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, oxidation resistance, and good ductility. It is widely used in metallurgy, chemical industry, aerospace and other fields. It is an important raw material for the preparation of stainless steel, high-temperature alloys, power batteries and other materials. It is a key strategic metal resource. The world's nickel resources are mainly distributed in Indonesia, Australia, Brazil and Russia, while my country's nickel resource reserves account for less than 3%, making it a typical "nickel-poor" country.
With the development of social economy, nickel resources play an increasingly important role in strategic emerging industries such as new materials, new energy, and low-carbon environmental protection. Japan and the United States have successively listed nickel as a key mineral. my country's "National Mineral Resources (2016-2020)" promulgated in 2016 included metallic nickel in the list of strategic minerals for the first time. my country is the world's largest consumer of nickel resources, but the output of nickel resources is not high. In 2020, the output was 120,000 tons, accounting for only 4.8% of the world's output. It mainly relies on imports from Indonesia and the Philippines, with a foreign dependence of up to 95%. Therefore, how to ensure the continuous supply of nickel resources is crucial to national security and economic development.
2. Application of nickel and nickel alloys
Nickel and nickel alloys are an important class of strategic materials with excellent properties, such as extremely excellent corrosion resistance, thermal strength, excellent process performance, and special electromagnetic, memory and other functional properties. Its processed materials are a high value-added product and one of the hot metals studied at home and abroad.
Nickel alloys can be divided into high-temperature alloys, corrosion-resistant alloys, memory alloys, wear-resistant alloys and precision alloys according to their use. Nickel alloys have excellent corrosion resistance, high-temperature strength, and oxidation resistance. Some special alloys also have special functions such as memory and excellent electromagnetics, so they are widely used in military aerospace, aerospace and navigation, electrical and electronic, petrochemical, new energy and other industrial fields.
3. Nickel and nickel alloy industry chain
The nickel and nickel alloy industry chain includes four links: nickel and nickel alloy smelting, processing, equipment manufacturing and other applications. The participants include: nickel and nickel alloy smelting enterprises, nickel and nickel alloy processing enterprises, equipment manufacturers in each link, and enterprises in demand industries such as equipment manufacturing, metal products, and chemicals. According to the current division of labor mode of nickel and nickel alloy industry enterprises, the metal nickel and nickel alloy industry chain can be divided into the above stages into upstream, midstream and downstream.
4. Nickel and nickel alloy production capacity
The current production enterprises of pure nickel products in my country are mainly Baoti Group Co., Ltd., Chongqing Materials Research Institute, Baoji Haiji Titanium Nickel Co., Ltd., Qinhuangdao Nuclear Nickel Co., Ltd., etc., among which Baoti Group Co., Ltd. has the largest production volume.
The main manufacturers of nickel-based corrosion-resistant and high-temperature alloys are Fushun Special Steel, Great Wall Special Steel, Shanghai Baosteel, etc. Baoti Group Co., Ltd. and others are in the industrial development stage. Precision alloys are mainly produced by Beijing Beiye Functional Materials, Shaanxi Precision Alloys, Changzhou Zhonggang Precision and other enterprises. Baoti Group can produce a small number of nickel-based low expansion alloys such as 4J36, elastic alloy 3J68, soft magnetic alloy 1J50, etc. Titanium-nickel memory alloys are mainly produced by Beijing Youyan and Xi'an Saite.
V. Development demand for nickel and nickel combined
1. Demand in the chemical industry
Pure nickel is generally used in corrosion-resistant structural parts of chemical equipment, precision instruments, electronic tubes and radio equipment parts, etc. High-purity nickel N4 has a large demand in electrolysis, electroplating and other industries, mainly wide medium and thick plates. Ultra-pure nickel is used in batteries and other fields. Pure nickel and N10276 cold-rolled thin plates with a thickness of 0.5mm to 0.6mm are in great demand in the manufacture of plate heat exchangers. Iron-nickel-based corrosion-resistant alloys N08020, N08028 plates, etc. are widely used in the preparation of oil and gas transmission pipelines. N08825 and pipeline steel composite material pipelines are in great demand in the oil industry. Nickel-based corrosion-resistant alloys N06600, N04400, N06625, and N10276 have excellent corrosion resistance and large market demand. In the past, they were imported in large quantities, but now they are gradually being domestically produced. In order to save costs, reduce welds, and improve safety, this type of industry mainly requires wide medium and thick plates with a thickness greater than 6mm, a width greater than 1800mm, and a length of more than 5000mm.
2. Demand in the field of electrical and electronic engineering
Nickel alloy functional materials for electronic and electrical engineering are an important aspect of nickel alloy applications, mainly used in home appliances, IT manufacturing, information products, and electrical product manufacturing. For example, there is a great demand for nickel alloy strips for color TV manufacturing, and the localization rate is less than 10%, which provides opportunities for the development of nickel-based precision alloys. However, it requires very high technical capabilities and equipment strength.
3. Demand in the field of nuclear power and new energy
Nickel-based high-temperature alloys have good high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, or certain specific environmental adaptability. In 2018, a total of 7 nuclear power units in China were officially put into commercial operation. Although the annual increase in the nuclear power industry has large fluctuations, it still maintains a growth trend in the long run. In the nuclear power equipment manufacturing industry, high-temperature alloy materials have an irreplaceable role due to their excellent properties such as high temperature resistance and high strength resistance. They are mainly used in nuclear islands that undertake nuclear reactions. The main components of nuclear power equipment that use high-temperature alloys include fuel units, control rods, pressure vessels, evaporators, high-temperature gas furnace heat exchangers, etc. These components need to withstand high temperatures of 600℃ to 800℃ during operation, require high creep strength, and must use high-temperature alloy materials.
4. Demand in the aerospace field
At present, the nickel-based high-temperature alloys urgently needed in my country's aerospace field are far behind those abroad. The turbine blades used in engines of domestic large aircraft projects, aviation projects, and military aircraft are in urgent need of high-performance high-temperature alloys. After several generations of development, high-temperature alloys are currently used in advanced foreign aircraft engines to manufacture single-crystal turbine blades. This technology is very difficult, and there are many defects in the manufacture of domestic blades. Domestic research on single-crystal high-temperature alloy materials and blade manufacturing is weak, and high-temperature alloy manufacturing technology for aerospace has become the key to restricting the development of related industries in my country.
5. Demand in the medical field
Titanium-nickel shape memory alloys are widely used in human heart stents, dental corrections and other fields. The main domestic titanium-nickel shape memory alloy production units are concentrated in Beijing and Xi'an. With the gradual deepening of R&D investment in my country's medical device industry, the technological innovation and material application of medical device products have developed rapidly, and the demand for high-tech materials such as shape memory alloys has shown a clear upward trend. The demand for shape memory alloys in my country's medical field has reached 5 billion yuan. At the same time, the demand for shape memory alloys in emerging industries such as aerospace, automobiles, and robots has also shown a rapid growth trend.
