1) Rapid growth in demand for titanium alloys
Titanium alloy smelting technology is complex and difficult to process. At present, only the United States, Russia, Japan and China have mastered complete titanium industrial production technology.
In terms of demand for titanium alloys, my country's titanium materials are mainly used in the chemical industry, and the demand for titanium materials in the aerospace field is growing rapidly.
According to statistics from the Titanium Zirconium Hafnium Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, the sales of major domestic titanium material manufacturers in the chemical industry account for about 50% of the total sales.
In the aerospace field, titanium sales continue to grow rapidly. In 2020, the total sales of major domestic titanium material manufacturers in the aerospace field were approximately 17,228 tons, a year-on-year increase of 36.73%, and a compound growth rate of 16.94% compared with the sales of 3,603 tons in 2010.
2) In the aviation field, titanium alloys are mainly used in aircraft structural parts, aero-engine structural parts and aerospace fasteners, and the amount of use continues to increase.
In terms of aircraft structural parts, the amount of titanium used in foreign advanced fighters accounts for about 25% of the total mass of the fuselage structure, and the amount of titanium used in civil aircraft accounts for about 10%.
The amount of titanium used in domestic military fighter jets has gradually increased from the initial 2% of the J-8 to 4% of the J-10, the J-11 to 15%, and the J-20 to 20%; the ARJ21 civil aircraft uses 4.8% of titanium alloy, and the C919 uses 9.3% of titanium.
In terms of aero-engine structural parts, titanium alloys are generally used for rotating parts such as fans, high-pressure compressor discs, blades, and stationary parts such as combustion chambers and tail nozzles of aircraft engines. The use of titanium alloys is the key to improving the thrust-to-weight ratio of military aero-engines.
In foreign advanced aero-engines, the amount of titanium alloys has accounted for 25% to 40% of the total mass of the engine. For example, the third-generation aero-engine F100 uses 25% of titanium alloys, and the fourth-generation aero-engine F119 uses 40% of titanium alloys.
3) In the field of aerospace, titanium alloys are used in missile weapon systems, rockets, and space vehicles.
In missile weapon systems, the flight speed of the new generation of cruise missiles has increased to Mach 3.5 or even higher. The bulkheads, skins, fuel tanks, etc. made of aluminum alloy materials cannot meet the requirements, and titanium alloy materials must be used to manufacture these missile parts; the turbojet engine power system used in cruise missiles also uses a large number of titanium alloy materials to manufacture its structural components, including compressor casings, compressor discs, compressor blades, etc.
In addition, some advanced missile warheads have begun to be made of titanium alloy materials, such as the US "SLAM" AGM-84H and "Tomahawk" II. In terms of rockets and spacecraft, titanium alloys are mainly used in rocket engine casings, rocket nozzle ducts, and spacecraft cabins or fuel and oxidizer storage tanks and other high-pressure containers.
4) In terms of titanium alloy supply, the most widely used in the industrial production of titanium and titanium alloy ingots is vacuum consumable arc melting and cold bed furnace melting.
At present, the melting of titanium alloys for aviation in my country basically adopts the vacuum consumable arc furnace melting method. For titanium alloy ingots with high quality requirements, they generally need to undergo three vacuum consumable arc melting to obtain ingots with uniform composition and low defect rate.
Cold hearth furnace melting technology emerged under the demand for high quality and high reliability of titanium alloys for aviation. Foreign countries prefer the process of cold hearth furnace melting plus vacuum consumable arc remelting to ensure the metallurgical quality of titanium alloy materials for aviation engines. Cold hearth furnace melting technology has developed rapidly abroad, especially in the United States, where cold hearth furnace melting technology is the most mature.
Domestic companies such as Baoti Co., Ltd., Jueneng Titanium Industry, and Yunnan Titanium Industry have successively introduced electron beam cold hearth melting furnaces, and electron beam cold hearth melting has certain applications in China.
5) The demand for titanium alloys in the domestic aerospace field is expected to maintain rapid growth, and related companies are expected to benefit fully.
In the aviation field, my country has a small number of military aircraft and a large proportion of old models. There is an urgent need to make up for the number of military aircraft and upgrade them. The installation of new aircraft and the replacement of military aircraft with domestic aircraft engines have increased the demand for titanium alloys in the aviation field. In addition, domestic civil aircraft ARJ21 and C919 will gradually bring new demand for aviation titanium materials.
In the aerospace field, missiles are the main consumables of modern warfare, and demand is expected to maintain rapid growth.
Domestic companies engaged in the production of aerospace titanium alloys mainly include Baoti Group, Western Superconducting, Western Materials, Xiangtou Jintian Group, Aviation Materials Institute, Baowu Special Metallurgy, Tiancheng Aviation Materials, etc., which are expected to fully benefit from the increase in demand for titanium alloys in the aerospace field.
