MIIT Expands New Application of Aluminum Processing Materials to Support the Development of High-End Aluminum Products

Recently, the first work conference on the cooperation mechanism of upstream and downstream aluminum equipment for civil aircraft was held in Shanghai. Zhou Changyi, the Director of the Department of Raw Materials of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, proposed that it will promote the full supply of aviation aluminum materials and encourage private enterprises and private enterprises to promote mutual promotion. The Department of Raw Materials of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also wrote in a recent article that it will expand new applications of aluminum processing materials and continue to support the development of high-end aluminum materials in order to promote the intensive development of the aluminum processing industry.

It is reported that at present aluminum alloy semi-trailer and tanker can enjoy transportation and energy-saving emission reduction, road suspension and transportation of the recommended models, vehicle and ship tax reduction and other policy support, broken bridge aluminum alloy, color aluminum plate, aluminum alloy template, etc. are listed as green building materials products. According to industry insiders, in the process of promoting national favorable policies and the transportation industry towards energy conservation, environmental protection, and lightweight development, aluminum materials have become more and more popular in downstream applications such as transportation, mechanical equipment, and power engineering. The market has great potential.

Domestic aluminum processing industry urgently needs to be upgraded

Aluminum processing is an important part of China's non-ferrous metals industry. After years of rapid development, China has become the world's largest producer and consumer of aluminum, and its overall strength has been significantly enhanced. In 2014, China's output of aluminum processing materials reached 48.45 million tons, an increase of 18.6% year-on-year, accounting for more than 50% of the world's aluminum processing materials. From January to August this year, the output of aluminum was 33.52 million tons, an increase of 9.1% from the same period of last year; from January to July, the aluminum processing industry realized a profit of 29.2 billion yuan, accounting for 39% of the total profits of the industry (excluding gold).

At the same time, there are still some problems to be solved in the domestic aluminum processing industry. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's aluminum processing R&D investment is insufficient, and the numerical simulation and intelligent control of alloy components and their processing technologies are far from the advanced level in foreign countries. The development capabilities of high-end products such as aviation aluminum and passenger car aluminum plates are weak, and product quality is not high. Stability, high production costs, and serious product homogeneity. In addition, the industrial structure of the aluminum industry is not reasonable, and it is characterized by "large middle and small ends," with excess smelting capacity and a shortage of high-value-added processed products.

According to Wen Jun, the vice president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, “The low-end products can't be sold, and the high-end products are not enough to sell.” The structural oversupply problem in the aluminum processing industry requires more powerful and insightful aluminum companies to join the high-end market. Market to solve."

In addition, China’s aluminum processing products often encounter “double reverse” investigations and sanctions in many countries in the international market. Only high-tech aluminum products with high-tech content and high added value are more competitive in the international market.

Taking China Zhongwang from encountering “double opposition” to successfully returning to the international market as an example, China Zhongwang is the world’s second largest R&D and manufacturer of industrial aluminum extrusion products in Asia. In 2011, it encountered US “double reverse” trade. Barriers, export volume fell sharply, Zhongwang quickly adjusted the market's focus and adopted a number of coping strategies: Zhongwang developed hard alloy products with higher technological content of 2, 5, and 7 series. This part of the product has a higher technological content because In the “Double Anti”, only three common soft alloys, namely, 1, 3, and 6 for the production of electricity and automobiles, etc., 2, 4, 5, and 7 are used in high-end fields such as aviation and aerospace. Hard alloy products are not included in this range; in addition, Zhongwang has also increased its efforts to increase the proportion of high-value-added products and promoted the R&D and production of deep-processed products.

Deep processing is the further processing of industrial aluminum extrusion products into high value-added products through a series of processes such as cutting, welding, grinding, and surface treatment. It is widely used in transportation (including railway passenger cars and container trucks, urban rapid transit systems, automobiles, etc.) Heavy trucks, ships, aviation, etc.), as well as mechanical equipment and power engineering. At the beginning of the “double reverse” campaign, Zhongwang’s deep processing business was still in its infancy. After realizing the trade barrier crisis, Zhongwang accelerated the R&D production of deep processing centers and successfully achieved overseas counterattacks: sales of deep processing products increased by more than 3 times in 2012. With 28,000 tons, overseas sales revenue increased by 141.6% to RMB 1.13 billion; export sales in 2013 soared 96.5% year-on-year to 62,000 tons. Export sales increased by 52.1% year-on-year to around RMB 1.72 billion; Driven by the increase in sales of deep-processed products, export sales increased by 35.3% year-on-year to approximately 84,000 tons. Export sales revenue rose by 26.9% year-on-year to approximately RMB 2.18 billion. In order to open up the export market outside the United States, Zhongwang also newly established subsidiaries in Japan and Germany in 2014, focusing on developing aluminum markets in related countries.

According to industry insiders, with increasing domestic and foreign competition pressure, China's aluminum processing industry needs to continue to expand consumption in the traditional field while accelerating technological innovation and structural adjustment to meet the demand for high-end equipment manufacturing.

Promote the autonomy of high-end aluminum materials

Although China has become the largest aluminum processing country in the world, China's aluminum processing industry is relatively weak in technological innovation capabilities, lack of international operations and global resource allocation capabilities, core technology and equipment, high dependence, high precision, sharp external dependence, the overall industry competition Force is not strong, the current aviation-grade aluminum plate, automotive body aluminum strip, high-voltage anode foil and other high-end aluminum foil products are mostly imported.

In response to the importation of some high-end aluminum processing products, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology indicated that it will increase the level of deep processing of aluminum materials and continue to implement major projects such as technological transformation, strong foundation projects and new materials that are closely related to the aluminum processing industry, and increase aviation aluminum. The directional and continuous support of key areas such as car panels will strive to achieve substantial breakthroughs in material development, technological innovation, quality control, and intelligent production.

Recently, the Department of Raw Materials Industry and the Department of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly organized the first working conference on the upstream and downstream cooperation mechanism of civil aluminum equipment in Shanghai. At the meeting, the Director of the Department of Raw Materials Zhou Changyi clearly pointed out that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will focus on the development, production and production of aviation aluminum. The key links are applied to promote complete autonomous supply of aviation aluminum materials, establish independent innovation material systems and equipment technology systems, give full play to the role of cooperation mechanisms, increase support for the development of key brands and platform construction, and improve the application of aluminum materials for civil aircraft applications. The policy and standards system encourages state-owned enterprises and private enterprises to promote each other and integrate civil-military forces.

It is understood that the establishment of a cooperative mechanism for the upstream and downstream cooperation of aluminum materials for civil aircraft is only the first step that the government is promoting. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will also study the establishment of a cooperation mechanism for the establishment of transportation aluminum production enterprises, equipment design and manufacturing, downstream users, governments, and associations. Coordinating departments to improve supporting policies, and actively guide companies to actively participate in standardization and revision of vehicle models, promote vehicle standardization, lightweight, van type, and promote close cooperation between upstream and downstream.

China Zhongwang participated in this meeting as a member of the upstream and downstream cooperation mechanism for civil aircraft aluminum. It is reported that as a leader in private aluminum enterprises, Zhongwang has already laid out an advanced aluminum processing market and promoted the autonomy of high-end aluminum materials. China Zhongwang has prepared the Tianjin aluminum rolling material project for five years. It mainly produces aluminum alloy plate, including transportation plates used in the fields of aerospace, marine, commercial vehicles, special vehicles, rail vehicles, etc. The construction of the first production line and the installation of equipment have basically been completed and it is expected to be put into operation before the end of this year. Zhongwang also hopes to win the market from the hands of international giants through the production of aluminum processing products that currently rely mainly on imports in China and rely on advanced technology and equipment and local advantages.

Lu Zhongqing, executive director and vice president of China Zhongwang stated: “The first production line of Tianjin Aluminium Rolling Materials Project mainly targets the domestic market. At present, these products mainly rely on imports in China. Once it is put into production, it can make up for domestic high-end aluminum processing aluminum alloy. Blank in the plate market."

High-end Aluminium: Trends in Material Development in Transportation

Today, when the low-carbon economy has become a major trend, the application of aluminum has gained a lot of special significance. This discovery, like the light metals of the 19th century, has played a significant role in balancing economic development and environmental protection.

Aluminum is the world's largest non-ferrous metal production. The cost of aluminum is much lower than titanium alloys, carbon fibers and other materials.

Aluminum alloys are made from aluminum ingots with a purity of up to 92%. At the same time, they are added with metal elements such as carbon, magnesium, silicon, and sulfur, which increase the strength, hardness, and wear resistance, to form aluminum alloys containing various components. Aluminum alloy is a green material that is completely harmless to the environment. The recovery rate of aluminum alloy material is about 80%. At present, 60% of automotive aluminum alloy materials come from recycled scrap. It is expected that the aluminum alloy recovery rate can be further increased to 90% in the future. the above.

In recent years, due to the increase in market demand and the improvement of aluminum processing technology, aluminum has become more and more widely used in high-end automobiles such as new energy vehicles, high-speed rail, ships, and even aviation.

The lightweighting of automobiles has become a trend in the development of the world's automobiles. The density of aluminum is about 1/3 of that of steel. Aluminum replaces steel to make cars. It can reduce the weight of the vehicle by 30% to 40%. The weight of the manufactured engine can be reduced by 30%. The aluminum radiator is 20% lighter than the same copper product. 40%, aluminum wheels can be reduced by about 30%. The body's light weight allows the car's speed and handling to be greatly improved. In addition to light, aluminum also brings higher safety performance. Due to the excellent properties of aluminum, today aluminum alloys have been widely used in various parts of automobiles, such as dashboards and engine mounts, aluminum alloy wheels, suspension system parts, bumper crash beams, cylinders, doors, and heat exchangers.

Http://d5.sina.com.cn/pfpghc2/201510/28/bc9e79718e8f40f0970985c852d2262d.jpg High-speed rail is "aluminum large", aluminum alloy with good characteristics in light weight, air tightness and corrosion resistance, becoming a high-speed rail The body material is the best choice. More than 85% of a high-speed rail car body material is an extruded aluminum profile. The entire car body is welded from profiles, plates, castings and forgings. The density of aluminum alloy is about one third of the density of steel (1794, 2.00, 0.11%), and the alloy formed by adding certain elements has higher strength than steel alloy. Therefore, while the strength rigidity meets the safety requirements for high-speed railcars, the use of aluminum alloy can greatly reduce the weight of the high-speed train compartment. Experts in the industry pointed out that high-speed trains with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour must use aluminum alloy materials, and 350 kilometers or more train cars use aluminum profiles except the chassis.

Aluminum is an advanced material for the construction of marine and marine engineering structural parts. The light weight, strong mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance of aluminum alloys make it a preferred material for modern ships. Ships made of aluminum alloy have the advantages of high speed, long service life, high load capacity, and low maintenance cost.

Aluminum is also one of the most important metal materials for aviation equipment manufacturing. The specific strength and specific rigidity of aluminum alloys are similar to those of steels, but their density is low. Under the same strength level, they can provide thicker sections and resist buckling when compressed. Better, become a classic aircraft structural material. High-strength aluminum alloys have the advantages of low density, high strength, and good thermal processing properties. The fabricated sheets, extruded profiles, and hub parts have wide application prospects in aerospace components. For example, high-strength aluminum alloy thick plates are used as the main load-bearing components, and the use ratio accounts for 30% to 35% of the total amount of aluminum on the aircraft.