At present, nearly 300,000 tons of high-temperature alloy materials are consumed in the international market every year, and they are widely used in various fields. In 2018, the global superalloy market size was US $ 12.163 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.98%; the high-temperature alloy market in the United States and Europe is relatively mature, and the future market increase mainly comes from China. At present, the annual growth rate of China's high-temperature alloy market Keep it at 20-30%.
1. The global annual demand for high-temperature alloys is more than 300,000 tons, and the market scale exceeds 10 billion US dollars
Superalloys were first born in the United States in the early 20th century and were used as anti-corrosion supports for stations. Since the beginning of World War II, the development of superalloys has entered a period of rapid development. Nickel-based superalloys, cobalt-based superalloys, and iron-based superalloys have been successfully developed and widely used. Nickel-based superalloys are currently the key hot-end component materials (such as turbine blades, director blades, turbine disks, combustion chambers, etc.) of modern aeroengines, spacecraft and rocket engines, and ships and industrial gas turbines. They are also nuclear reactors, chemical equipment, Important high-temperature structural materials required for coal conversion technology. Since the aviation industry was mainly for military services in the early days, by the 1950s, several major military powers such as Britain, the United States, and the former Soviet Union had formed their own superalloy systems and corresponding superalloy industries.
Since the 1980s, numerical simulation research has been widely carried out at home and abroad, and important progress has been made, and on this basis, microstructure and metallurgical defects prediction research has been carried out. New technologies such as directional solidification, single crystal alloys, powder metallurgy, mechanical alloying, and ceramic filtration have become the main driving forces for the development of high-temperature alloys. The single crystal alloys prepared by the directional solidification process are particularly important and are widely used in aeroengine turbine blades.
At present, nearly 300,000 tons of high-temperature alloy materials are consumed in the international market every year, and they are widely used in various fields. There are no more than 50 companies that can produce high-temperature alloys for aerospace globally, mainly in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and other countries. The entire industry has obvious oligarch characteristics. In the field of high temperature alloy steel products involved in aerospace applications, developed countries are never exported as strategic military supplies.
From 2012 to 2018, with the need to update aerospace equipment and localization, the technological update of the thermal power industry and the promotion of in-depth oil exploration technology, the demand for the superalloy market has been further stimulated. From 2012 to 2018, the global high-temperature alloy market showed an upward trend year by year. In 2018, the global high-temperature alloy market size was 12.163 billion US dollars, an increase of 4.8% from the previous period.
2. There are many leading companies of superalloys in Europe and America
At present, the countries that can produce high-temperature alloys for aerospace globally are mainly the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and China.
There are a number of independent high-temperature alloy companies in the United States, including companies that can produce high-temperature alloys for aircraft engines: GE, Putra-Whitney (PW), and other companies that can produce special steels and high-temperature alloys: Hines -Haynes Stel-lite Company, Inco Alloys International, Inc., ATI and Carpenter Technology Corporation, etc.
EU countries China, Britain, Germany, France and Russia are the world's leading representatives of high-temperature alloy production and R & D. Britain is one of the earliest countries in the world to research and develop high-temperature alloys. Its high-temperature alloy casting technology is world-leading. The representative product is the Nimocast alloy of the International Nickel Company (Mond Nickel Company). Later, the country's aero-engine manufacturer Rollo Holdings (Rolls-Royce plc) has also developed directional solidification and single crystal alloys SRR99, SRR2000 and SRR2060, etc., which are mainly used in aero engine manufacturing.
Aerospace fasteners are mainly monopolized by companies such as the United States, France, and Canada. There are urgent demands for high-performance superalloy fasteners for various types of aircraft and aero engines in China. Since most of the products of aviation fastener materials are still heavily dependent on imports, it has formed obvious constraints on the development of a new generation of aircraft, aero engines, and gas turbines in China.
In general, China still has a big gap with the United States, Russia and other countries in terms of super alloy technology level and production scale. With the development of higher-performance aerospace engines independently developed in China, the supply of high-temperature alloy materials cannot meet the application needs, and China's high-temperature alloy enterprises also need to focus on improving their research and development capabilities and equipment levels to increase the supply of higher-performance high-temperature alloy materials Strength.
3. Comparative analysis of China's high-temperature alloys and international leading enterprises
Compared with imported high-temperature alloys, China's high-temperature alloys mainly have the following shortcomings: 1) Metallurgical problems: domestically produced high-temperature alloys have more metallurgical defects, mainly manifested as black spots, white spots, carbide segregation, etc .; 2) Organization uniformity problem: The domestic high-temperature alloy bar has poor organization uniformity, which is mainly reflected in the extremely poor grain size of the side core; 3) Impurity element control problem: domestic production of high-temperature alloy product impurity elements (such as sulfur element) ) The higher content leads to lower strength and service life of the material; 4) Cost problem: The utilization rate of the return material of domestically produced high-temperature alloys is low, resulting in generally high production costs.
High temperature alloy materials are the key materials for the manufacture of new aero engines and gas turbines, and are used to manufacture core components such as engine casings, turbine blades, guide blades, and turbine disks. In foreign countries, high-temperature alloy material production enterprises represented by ATI, SMC, etc. have continuously improved the quality and stability of high-temperature alloy materials and reduced the production cost of high-temperature alloy materials through large-scale and lean production in recent years; and continued Develop high-temperature alloy materials with higher service temperatures, and optimize existing high-temperature alloy production processes and production equipment to further improve the purity and uniformity of high-temperature alloys. In China, domestic high-temperature alloy materials have a certain gap compared with foreign high-temperature alloys in terms of purity, uniformity, batch stability and production costs, and they still cannot fully meet the requirements of high-end equipment, especially aeroengine materials. In recent years, with the gradual implementation of the "two machines" major project, the domestic demand for high-performance superalloy materials has become increasingly urgent. Domestic manufacturers have conducted targeted research and development in order to solve the existing problems of superalloy materials to improve domestic superalloys. The quality level of the material.
4. The United States is the main high-temperature alloy consumer market
Superalloys are the key raw materials for aerospace manufacturing, especially aero engines, and the basic raw materials for nuclear power and large ships. At present, affected by the distribution of the world's aviation manufacturing industry, the global high-temperature alloys are mainly consumed in countries or regions with more developed aviation manufacturing industries such as Europe and the United States, especially in the United States, where the aviation manufacturing industry is most developed; Consumption is relatively small. According to statistics, the United States accounts for 48% of the world's high-temperature alloy consumer market; followed by Europe, which accounts for 25%; the Asian region consumes about 22%, and other regions account for 5%.
5. The future market increase of superalloys mainly comes from China
In the global market, the demand for high-temperature alloys in aerospace continues to rise, and the consideration of safety strategies in various countries will strengthen the demand for high-temperature alloys. However, the high-temperature alloy markets in the United States and Europe are relatively mature. The future market increase will mainly come from China. At present, the annual growth rate of the Chinese high-temperature alloy market is maintained at 20-30%. Therefore, as a whole, the global high-temperature alloy can still maintain a relatively fast growth rate. It is predicted that by 2024, the global high-temperature alloy market will reach USD 17.3 billion.