High-end materials, 100 billion market

Metal powder is the basis of large-scale production of non-standard metallurgical products

Metal powder refers to metal particle groups with a size less than 1mm, including single metal powder, alloy powder and some refractory compound powder with gold properties, which is the main raw material of powder metallurgy. Powder metallurgy is a process in which metal powder (or a mixture of metal powder and non-metal powder) is used as raw material to manufacture metal materials, composite materials and a variety of different types of products through the forming and sintering process. Therefore, metal powder is accompanied by the development of powder metallurgy technology, and the expansion of the application field of metal powder is inseparable from the continuous innovation of powder metallurgy technology. The important changes brought about by powder metallurgy technology are mainly reflected in two aspects: (1) the development of new materials and advanced technology of key products. The powder metallurgy ductile tungsten wire developed in 1909 brought light to human society. The advent of cemented carbide in 1923 increased the efficiency of metal cutting tens of times or even hundreds of times, bringing revolutionary changes to cutting, mining and drilling and other processing industries. Since the 1930s, refractory metals, electric contact materials and magnetic materials (including rare earth permanent magnet materials) developed based on powder metallurgy technology have provided key equipment and components for electrification systems and communication equipment. (2) Advanced forming process for the production of high-performance metal machinery parts. Since powder metallurgy technology can achieve near-net molding of materials, it has the advantages of high raw material utilization rate (about 95%), high production efficiency, energy saving and environmental protection, and can directly produce high-performance powder metallurgy products with complex shapes and high precision. The rapid development of powder metallurgy machinery parts industry in the world has established its position as an important component of modern manufacturing.

At present, the rapid development of emerging industries represented by a new generation of information technology, new energy, intelligent manufacturing, etc., has put forward higher requirements for materials, such as ultra-high purity, ultra-high performance, ultra-low defect, high-speed iteration, multi-function, high durability, low cost, easy recycling, sophisticated equipment, etc., putting forward higher requirements for the research and development of new materials. The new material industry is developing in the direction of green, low-carbon, fine and economical. The rapid development of new generation information technology and Internet technology such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, as well as the application of new perceptual technology and automation technology, has promoted the continuous acceleration of the research and development process of new materials industry, bringing unprecedented development opportunities for metal powder. Metal powder is widely used in automotive, aerospace, electronics, machinery and construction, etc. In the context of industrial upgrading and green manufacturing, the demand for high-precision and lightweight components in various fields is growing rapidly. The automotive and aerospace industries are leading the way in increasing the demand for lightweight components to provide consumers with energy-efficient solutions. Traditional production methods cannot produce such lightweight and high-precision components, but advanced powder metallurgy processes such as metal powder injection molding (MIM), metal powder additive manufacturing (3D printing) and other processes can efficiently produce such non-standard components at relatively low production costs.

The continuous improvement of powder metallurgy technology has promoted the application field of powder metallurgy products to expand to the high-end market. New energy vehicles, photovoltaic, wind power, energy storage, aerospace, communications, medical and other emerging fields are developing rapidly, and the demand for high-performance, low-cost customized and personalized new materials and components has increased significantly. The progress of powder metallurgy technology can help the large-scale production of low-end homogenized products to upgrade the large-scale production of high-end customized products. The so-called large-scale production is not only the expansion of the scale of production capacity, but the improvement of production efficiency, thereby saving energy and reducing costs. Metal powder is the basis of large-scale production of non-standard metallurgical products.

Metal powder sword refers to 100 billion market

According to PMR (Persistence Market Research), despite the COVID-19 pandemic, global sales of metal powders maintained a compound growth rate of 3.4% between 2017 and 2021. In 2021, the global market for metal powders will reach 8.9 billion US dollars. As new energy vehicles, photovoltaic, energy storage, aerospace and other sectors prefer advanced manufacturing processes to reduce time, cost and labor while improving production efficiency, the demand for metal powders is expected to experience higher growth in 2022-2032. The global market size is expected to grow from $9.5 billion in 2022 to $19.3 billion in 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. The United States is the largest consumer of metal powder, followed by China. PMR expects the U.S. market to reach $2.7 billion in 2022, with North America accounting for 30.9% of the total. Various technological advances and the rapid adoption of cutting-edge manufacturing technologies will promote the rapid growth of metal powder demand in the United States. Due to the demand for high-precision, durable and high-strength components, PMR expects 3D printing to experience high growth in the healthcare and defense sectors. China is the world's second largest economy, at the same time is a global manufacturing power, metal powder in electronics, automotive, aerospace, new energy, medical and other fields of application space is broad, superimposed industrial upgrading and import substitution, China's metal powder market is expected to enter the accelerated expansion stage.