The major reason why nichrome wire is used in various electrical appliances is because of its high heating property as compared to other good conductors ( metal wires ).
Basically here nichrome wire is a heating element or a material that allows the electricity to pass through it and offers certain resistance that produces heat. The amount of heat produced depends on the magnitude of current passes through the heating elements and the magnitude of resistance offered by the element wire such if a heating wire allows maximum current to pass through it then it cannot produce much heat due to its low resistance property.
In short Nichrome is an resistive alloy. As a heating wire it has amazing and useful properties :
* high melting point
* high resistance