From the perspective of the industry chain, superconductivity is mainly composed of three parts; the upstream is mineral resources, such as yttrium, barium, bismuth, strontium and other metals, which are the basis of the superconducting industry; It is the core of the superconducting industry; downstream is superconducting application products, such as superconducting cables, superconducting current limiters, superconducting energy storage, superconducting generators, superconducting filters and superconducting transformers, etc. .
From the upstream perspective, yttrium ore resources, yttrium ore resources account for about 30% of the cost of superconducting materials, and superconducting materials account for 40% -50% of the cost of superconducting products. Yttrium is a kind of rare earth metal element.
The superconducting material in the middle reaches is the link with the highest gross profit rate in the superconducting industry chain, and the gross profit rate reaches more than 50%. However, the current domestic superconducting materials mainly rely on imports from the United States and Japan, and the prices are higher. A few domestic companies such as JSYD Cable Technology Group and JSHL Cable Technology Group have involved in the research and development of superconducting materials.
Downstream products such as superconducting current limiters and superconducting filters have a relatively low gross profit margin, about 30%, but this part of the business is currently the most involved Chinese manufacturer and the closest to industrial production.
Second, China's high-temperature superconducting materials market development analysis
In terms of product types, superconductors are classified into low-temperature superconductors and high-temperature superconductors. Among them, the application range of low-temperature superconductivity is the most extensive. With the continuous improvement of technology, the demand for high temperature superconductivity will continue to increase. From the perspective of application fields, magnetic resonance imaging will become an area with the most demand for applications. In addition, electronic and electrical will become the fastest growing field of superconducting technology demand.
Superconducting materials have such characteristics as higher critical current density under high magnetic field, high critical magnetic field, and low magnetic loss. At present, BSCCO high temperature superconducting materials are the most mature, most widely used and most commercialized superconducting materials. The key superconducting materials for R & D and production in various countries are YBCO high temperature superconducting materials. YBCO second-generation superconducting materials are the future superconducting materials. Guide the development of materials. The domestic superconducting materials mainly rely on imports from the United States and Japan, which are expensive and account for about 50% of the cost of applied products. The development of the superconducting industry will inevitably generate a large demand for superconducting materials. Therefore, to develop and grow the superconducting industry, the superconducting materials must be domestically produced.
3. Development analysis of the global high-temperature superconducting material industry
In 2013, the global superconducting material market value reached 428 million US dollars. It is expected that by 2020, this data will reach 1.297 billion US dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.1%.
The growing demand for magnetic resonance imaging technology in the medical field is the main reason for the rapid growth of the demand for superconducting materials in the medical field. On the other hand, driven by the development of the automotive market, the growth in demand for electric motors will also promote the development of superconducting materials for a period of time in the future. However, price fluctuations of rare earth elements such as yttrium, which are commonly used to produce superconductors, will have a negative impact on the development of this market in the coming years. However, the magnetic aspects of some end-use applications, such as high-speed rail, cryogenics and biological magnetic fields, will create new growth poles for superconducting materials. Due to the concentrated use of magnetic resonance imaging technology, nuclear magnetic resonance technology application, and fusion research, the demand for low-temperature superconducting materials reached a record high in 2013. However, it is likely that high-temperature superconducting materials will drive the market in the future. It is estimated that by 2022, the compound annual growth rate of the high-temperature superconducting material market will reach 37.4%.