New materials are divided into three categories: advanced basic materials, key strategic materials, and cutting-edge new materials according to the industrial stage. Advanced basic materials mainly include high-end products in basic materials such as steel, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, building materials, light industry, and textiles. Key strategic materials mainly include special alloys for high-end equipment, high-performance fibers and their composite materials, new energy materials, and rare earth functions Materials, advanced semiconductor materials, new display materials and other high-performance new materials, cutting-edge new materials include 3D printing materials, superconducting materials, intelligent bionic and metamaterials, graphene and so on.
Liquid metal has high strength, high hardness, strong wear resistance and corrosion resistance, very good heat dissipation, electromagnetic shielding and self-driving. At present, liquid metal can be used in the field of radiators and electronic additive manufacturing, but with its superior performance, liquid metal still has a very broad application space in the future.
3D printing alloy powders can be divided into iron-based alloys, titanium and titanium-based alloys, nickel-based alloys, cobalt-chromium alloys, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, etc. As the market prospect of 3D printing technology is very broad, the material alloy powder used for printing has correspondingly greater demand space. At present, China’s high-end 3D printing alloy powder has also begun to move from the laboratory to the stage of industrialization.
Superconducting materials have the characteristics of zero resistance and complete diamagnetism. Applications include transmission cables, superconducting generators, superconducting magnets, and superconducting current limiters. At present, domestic superconducting materials are mainly imported from the United States and Japan, and the cost is high. 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 localized.
High temperature alloys have high high temperature strength, fracture toughness, oxidation resistance, thermal corrosion resistance and thermal fatigue properties. Mainly used in aerospace and energy fields. As a key material invested in aeroengines, superalloys have a considerable growth rate in the future. In the medium to long term, the breakthrough demand in the fields of nuclear power, industry, and ships has also brought about demand in the high-end alloy industry.
Rare earths are divided into five categories according to their functions: rare earth permanent magnet materials, rare earth catalytic materials, rare earth hydrogen storage materials, rare earth luminescent materials, and rare earth super-polished materials. Different types of rare earths have their own unique properties and applications. China is a large country of rare earth resources, and resources have driven the rapid development of rare earth functional materials in China.