B-XRD1168 - Phase Identification and Quantitative Analysis of Nickel Ore by X-ray Diffraction

Phase identification and Quantitative Analysis of Nickel Ore by X-ray Diffraction

Application Note B-XRD1168

Introduction

Nickel is an important metal used in stainless steel, batteries, and other materials. The nickel content of raw nickel ores is typically only a few percent. In many cases, mineral processing is used to produce nickel concentrates containing approximately 10–15% nickel before transportation.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) can directly identify and quantify mineral phases. Therefore, it is utilized in exploration and mine development to identify nickel-bearing minerals.

This application note presents examples of crystal phase identification and quantitative analysis of nickel ore using XRD.

Measurement and analysis

Nickel ore was analyzed using the MiniFlex benchtop X-ray diffractometer. High-quality XRD patterns were obtained within 10 minutes.

The sample contained a large amount of iron. When using Cu radiation, the background in the XRD pattern increases due to X-ray fluorescence from iron. Increased background intensity in the XRD pattern causes difficulty in observing low-intensity diffraction peaks. Compared with Cu radiation, Co radiation produces less iron fluorescence, resulting in a lower background intensity. For this reason, Co radiation was used in this study.

Figure 1 shows the phase identification results for nickel ore. The nickel oxide ore in this sample was identified as NiFe₂O₄ (trevorite). Table 1 presents the result of quantitative analysis obtained by Rietveld refinement. This result demonstrates that powder XRD enables rapid and non destructive identification and quantification of crystalline phases in nickel ore.

Furthermore, the combination of XRD with elemental analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) enables more accurate characterization of the chemical and mineralogical composition of nickel ores.

B-XRD1168_fig1_jp Fig.1：Result of phase identification for nickel ore