Abstract:
The object of the artical is to give a brief introduction about the triend in the application of tungsten carbide products around the world, by focusing on the current situation, market demand and future trend of the application of the tungsten carbide products in different areas or industries.
Since the author has not conducted practical research on the relevant global industrial chain, some data sources in the book only represent personal opinions for your reference.
Industry Overview
Cemented carbide refers to an alloy material made of a hard compound of refractory metal (mainly tungsten carbide) and a binder metal (mainly cobalt) through powder metallurgy process. It has a series of excellent properties such as high elastic modulus, high strength, high hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, impact resistance, small thermal expansion coefficient, and stable chemical properties at room temperature and high temperature. Tungsten carbides are mainly used for the manufacture of cutting tools, knives, drills and wear parts, which are widely used in military industry, aerospace, machining, metallurgy, oil drilling, mining tools, electronic communications, construction and other fields, known as "the teeth of industry".
According to the application of cemented carbide, it is mainly classified into three categories: cutting tool alloys, rock drilling tool alloys and wear-resistant parts alloys, of which cutting tools and rock drilling tools are the main application areas, accounting for 30% of the overall application. Rock drilling tool alloys and wear parts alloys account for 27% and 17%, respectively. The remaining 26% are cemented tungsten carbides including steel structure, cemented carbide coatings, and special-shaped cemented carbides used in handicraft jewelry.
The industry chain of carbide products is as follows:
The main raw materials of cemented carbide products include tungsten carbide powder and cobalt powder. The upstream industries are mainly tungsten ore and cobalt ore production and processing enterprises; the downstream industries of cemented carbide products mainly include mining industry, automobile manufacturing, oil drilling and mining, machine tool processing, electronic information industry, and aggregates and sand-making industries etc.
It is estimated that from the original raw material concentrate powder to metal powder, the product value-added is about 3 times; from concentrate powder to ordinary cemented carbide, the added value of the product can be increased by about 6 times; from concentrate powder to CNC lathe inserts, value-added more than 20 times.
The Current Situation
Our country, China is the world's largest tungsten resource storage country. Tungsten resources are mainly distributed in Hunan, Jiangxi, Henan and other provinces. According to the data released by the Ministry of Land and Resources in 2015, the reserves of tungsten mineral resources identified in my country in 2014 were 7.205 million tons, and in 2013 it was 7.014 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%.
As a raw material-oriented industry, the geographical distribution of the domestic cemented carbide industry is very obvious, mainly concentrated in Hunan, Jiangxi and Henan and other tungsten mines' distribution area.
Although started late, the industry in China has been growing rapidly through years. With the improvement of my country's cemented carbide production and quality, China's cemented carbide exports have grown rapidly in the past decade. However, the cemented carbide enterprises are still relatively backward in technology and equipment, weak in research and development capabilities, and lack of high-end talents. It is difficult to meet the domestic manufacturing industry's demand for cemented carbide deep-processed products. Tungsten products with high technical content and high added value still need to be imported from abroad.
The Market Demand and Trend Forcast in Cemented Carbide Products
(1) Metal Cutting Machine Tools
According to the statistics of China Machine Tool Industry Association, in recent years, the output value of my country's metal cutting machine tools has maintained continuous growth, and the corresponding machine tool output has declined in the same period, which means that my country's metal cutting machine tools have improved in terms of product performance, grade and price.
(2) Mining, Oil Drilling and Mining
Tungsten carbide rock drilling tools and mining tools are key components and consumables of mining machinery and are widely used in mining operations. Oil drilling and production have higher requirements for drill bits and seals, and the demand for cemented carbide products used in oil drilling and production will remain stable and grow slightly.
(3) Automobile Manufacturing
Carbide wear-resistant parts are important components of tools and dies for automobile manufacturing. But in the whole year of 2019, especially since the epidemic of COVID Virus, the production and sales of automobiles are generally low, and the demand for cemented carbide used in the automobile manufacturing industry also fluctuated with the fluctuation of the automobile industry.
(4) Forestry, Wood and Plastic Processing
The woodworking tool in forestry industry as a whole is highly correlated with the real estate market. The woodworking tool industry has grown steadily since 2010. With the upgrading of real estate regulation in the past two years, the overall growth rate of the woodworking tool industry in China has slowed down.
Cementd carbide products in the plastic processing industry has little fluctuation with the needs of people's daily consumption and industrial consumption.
(5) Sustainable Development Industry
With the implementation of my country's environmental protection policy and the increasing emphasis on environmental protection worldwide, the application of cemented carbide products in related industries is becoming more and more frequent. For example, the recycling of domestic waste, the cleaning and reuse of construction waste, and the sand and gravel crushing industry (for protecting river channels and preventing excessive exploitation of river sand).
In the future, with the development of science and technology in the direction of high precision and cutting-edge, we shall expect and witness that the industrial structure and development direction of cemented carbide will face adjustment.
