Three salient features of the titanium industry

1、 Titanium industry is a sunrise industry

Titanium has a series of excellent properties such as light weight, high specific strength, and corrosion resistance. It is an excellent lightweight, high melting point structural material, new functional material, and important biomedical material. It is widely used in aviation, aerospace, naval vessels, nuclear energy, chemical industry, petroleum, metallurgy, electric power, light industry, medical treatment, sports, environmental protection, and people's daily life. The market prospects are increasingly broad with social progress. Titanium belongs to the category of rare metals, but it is rich in resources and can effectively meet the needs of social development. Countries such as China, the United States, Russia, and Japan have established complete systems for titanium metallurgy, processing, application, and scientific research. Countries such as Europe have also established advanced systems for the processing, application, and scientific research of titanium and its alloys, providing a reliable guarantee for the production of high-quality titanium materials. Therefore, titanium is a widely used material that people are striving to research, develop, and apply. China's titanium industry has only 57 years of history, and the world's titanium industry has only 60 years of history. The titanium industry is indeed a promising sunrise industry.

2、 Titanium industry is a high-tech industry

The chemical position of titanium oxide is very low and extremely stable, and it cannot be obtained by carbon reduction like iron. Instead, it must be produced through multiple processes such as chlorination (converting the oxide into chloride such as TiCl4), rectification and purification of TiCL4, reduction with magnesium under inert gas protection to obtain spongy metal titanium, vacuum distillation and purification, and finishing; Generally, magnesium electrolysis, magnesium refining, and chlorine recovery systems are also equipped to achieve magnesium and chlorine circulation in sponge titanium plants, to reduce costs, energy consumption, and emissions of three wastes; Therefore, the titanium smelting process is a complex metallurgical system.

Titanium metal has a high melting point, strong high-temperature activity, and is easy to absorb and oxidize; The consistency of chemical composition and microstructure of titanium alloys has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of materials. Titanium alloys have large deformation resistance and narrow processing temperature ranges. Therefore, the processing of titanium alloy materials often requires specialized processing equipment and complex and strict processing technical conditions.

Due to the complexity of titanium metallurgy and processing technology, although titanium and its alloys are increasingly widely used, only a few developed countries except China have complete titanium metallurgy, processing technology, and industry. Countries such as India, Brazil, and South Korea are currently committed to developing their titanium industry.

3、 Titanium industry level is a symbol of national comprehensive strength

Here, we provide you with two sets of convincing data. According to the statistics of various titanium associations, in 2010, the world produced more than 110000 tons of titanium processing materials, of which China and the United States each used more than 30000 tons, Japan, Russia, and Europe each used nearly 10000 tons, and South Korea and Taiwan each used about 5000 tons. The consumption of titanium in other regions of the world is very small; More than 50% of titanium materials in the United States, Russia, and Europe are used in the aviation industry, more than 50% of titanium materials in Japan are used in traditional industrial fields (such as chemical engineering, metallurgy, electric power, construction, etc.), and more than 50% of titanium materials in China are used in the chemical industry. Aerospace only uses about 10% titanium.

The above two sets of data indicate that the more developed countries and countries with larger industrial scales use more titanium. The more technologically advanced countries use titanium for the aerospace industry, the more high-end titanium is used.

Another corroboration of the above conclusion is that the more advanced aircraft use more titanium, such as the earlier Boeing 747 aircraft and the Air 300 aircraft, where the titanium consumption rate does not exceed 4%, while the recent wide-body large passenger aircraft, the Airbus 380, the Air 350, and the Boeing 787 have a titanium consumption rate of 10%, 14%, and 15%, respectively. The titanium utilization rate of the third generation fighter aircraft is about 20%, while the titanium utilization rate of the fourth generation fighter aircraft reaches 40% (such as the F-22 in the United States).

The "12th Five Year Plan" and "13th Five Year Plan" periods will still be a period of strategic opportunities for China. Although we may encounter various difficulties, the pace of development of the Chinese people is irresistible, and we will definitely overcome various difficulties to maintain a healthy and rapid development of the national economy. In the next 5 to 10 years, China will implement its own major projects such as the Large Aircraft Program, the Fourth Generation Aircraft Program, the Lunar Exploration Program, the Tiangong Project, the Nuclear Power Project, and the Ocean Development Project with the strength of the entire country. Titanium is the key support material for these major projects. Considering the growing demand for titanium materials in the fields of chemical engineering, metallurgy, electric power, medical treatment, and automobiles, we have reason to believe that China's titanium industry still has great room for development and has a bright future.