Powder metallurgy is a process technology for manufacturing metal materials, composite materials and various geometric structure products by preparing metal or non-metal powder (or a mixture of metal powder and non-metal powder) as raw materials, and through processes such as forming and sintering. Compared with the traditional process, it has the advantages of energy saving, material saving, labor saving, environmental protection, near-net shape, personalization, good consistency, etc. Its advantages make it the key to solving the problem of new materials, and it plays an important role in the development of new materials. It plays a pivotal role and belongs to the sunrise industry of modern industrial development.

From the technical development trend of powder metallurgy product industry, the future development direction of my country's powder metallurgy industry is:

1. The majestic development of new powder metallurgy technologies represented by metal injection molding has expanded the structural complexity of powder metallurgy parts, improved the efficiency of powder metallurgy manufacturing, and expanded the application fields of powder metallurgy products.

2. By increasing the density of powder metallurgy pressed products, it can make up for the defects of traditional powder metallurgy products and expand the replacement range of powder metallurgy products for traditional manufacturing processes. At present, the sintered density of powder metallurgy products in general enterprises is 6.2-7.4g/cm3, and a variety of advanced densification technologies have been developed, which can fully densify the density of iron-based parts and greatly improve the service performance of products.

3. The development of a new preparation process will further improve the consistency, strength, precision and structural complexity of powder metallurgy products, further improve the manufacturing efficiency of powder metallurgy products, and expand their manufacturing economic advantages, which is conducive to the upgrading of industrial structure and expansion. Market application space of powder metallurgy.

4. In order to meet the requirements of lightweight and functionalization, through the development of alloying methods, the powder metallurgy material system is enriched to further develop new material systems. ), titanium alloy and other materials powder metallurgy manufacturing technology.

Industry Pattern Analysis

From the perspective of the global powder metallurgy industry, the mainstream technology direction is press forming (PM), the technology direction that has achieved rapid growth is metal injection molding (MIM), and the potential emerging technology direction is additive manufacturing (AM).

1PM Industry Pattern Analysis

According to relevant data, in 2016, in the global iron powder used for powder metallurgy, North and South America accounted for 44%, Europe accounted for 24%, and Asia and Oceania accounted for 32%. "2016-2020 China Powder Metallurgy Manufacturing Industry Development Status and Investment Analysis and Forecast Report" (Zhongyi Kechuang Market Research (Beijing) Co., Ltd.) reported that the average weight of powder metallurgy products used in each car in North America reached 18.6kg, which is the same as Correspondingly, Europe is 7.2kg, Japan is 8kg, and China is about 4.5kg. The automobile industry is still the most concerned industry and the largest potential market for the powder metallurgy industry.

Driven by the rapid development of China's economy, China's powder metallurgy industry continues to develop. In 2015, the industry output according to the statistics of the China Machinery Association Powder Metallurgy Association reached 178,100 tons, and in 2016 it reached 184,500 tons. After the product structure adjustment in 2015-2016, the output in 2018 exceeded 200,000 tons. The scale of China's powder metallurgy industry has continued to expand, and the product structure has become more reasonable. China's powder metallurgy industry has become an important force in the global powder metallurgy industry. In terms of iron powder usage, the gap with Europe is getting smaller and smaller.

With the continuous improvement of powder metallurgy technology, the application field of powder metallurgy products is constantly expanding to the high-end market. Only by crossing the double "threshold" of technology and capital, it has gradually changed from focusing on the growth of "quantity" to focusing on the growth of "quality" , in order to realize the product upgrade and structural adjustment of the powder metallurgy industry to meet the high-quality development requirements of the new era.

In China, most domestic powder metallurgy companies strive for survival through fierce price competition in the low-end product market. However, in the high-end powder metallurgy market, only a few domestic companies compete with many foreign companies or wholly foreign-owned companies in China. The metallurgical industry presents a relatively obvious structural overcapacity situation.

2MIM Industry Pattern Analysis

From the perspective of the MIM industry as a whole, under the dual effects of capital enthusiasm and the purposeful cultivation of key customers, large-scale competitors will further increase in 2020, and the industry capacity increment will significantly exceed the business increment. Folding screen mobile phones have become a hotspot, and the weight reduction and durability of the folding shaft parts proposed by it,

In 2019, the average growth rate of China's metal injection molding industry was about 18%, of which leading companies Shanghai Fuchi and Changzhou Jingyan contributed 70% to the industry growth. The proportion of application fields based on sales: about 60% of smartphones, about 13% of other 3C fields, about 10% of auto parts, 11% of tools and hardware, about 4% of medical products, and 2% of other fields. Unlike traditional powder metallurgy, the application of the MIM process in the home appliance field is very small and is usually not included in the application classification. The large-scale application of MIM industry is still dominated by stainless steel, accounting for about 70%, low-alloy steel about 21%, cobalt-based alloy 6%, tungsten-based alloy about 2%, and a small amount of titanium and copper. , aluminum alloy and cemented carbide and other materials.

The global MIM industry has its own characteristics in the distribution of application fields. According to 2018 estimates, the application distribution (in terms of product weight) of the US MIM industry is as follows: about 30% for medical products, 11% for auto parts, 33% for light weapons products, 12% for general industrial products, 7% in 3C fields, and other applications 7 %. For the European region, according to the 2017 EPMA survey results, the application in the automotive industry accounts for more than 40% of the European MIM output value, and other major application areas include consumer goods, light weapons, medical equipment, construction, power tools and tools, etc.

3SMC industry pattern analysis

Soft magnetic metal powder core (SMC) is a new type of soft magnetic composite material with good comprehensive properties, which is made of powder made of metal or alloy soft magnetic material and pressed by a special process. Some excellent characteristics of ferrite soft magnetism, and at the same time overcome some of their defects to the greatest extent, so that the magnetic permeability of metal magnetic powder core is small, but the linearity is good, the saturation magnetic density is high, and the operating frequency range is wide. It is of great significance for the development of power electronic products in the direction of high precision, high sensitivity, high power density and miniaturization. The growth rate of its global demand exceeds that of any other soft magnetic materials, and the total global demand for magnetic cores is expected to exceed 1 billion Only more than 200 million domestic imports per year.

Before the end of the 20th century, soft magnetic metal powder cores were basically U.S. products that monopolized the world market, and other industrialized countries such as Japan and Germany also had considerable scale. At the beginning of the 21st century, Korean products had grown rapidly, especially in Changxing, South Korea. Electronics (CSC) even surpassed Magnetics in the field of alloy magnetic powder cores. In the past 20 years, my country's metal magnetic powder cores have also developed rapidly, especially with the rapid development of new energy and new energy vehicles, many companies in my country have also started the research and development of metal magnetic powder cores, product quality and production scale Greatly improved, and the international gap has also been greatly reduced.

FeSiAl and Super FeSiAl alloy powder cores are cost-effective metal magnetic powder cores. Domestic manufacturers have completely replaced their international counterparts, and are widely used in new energy photovoltaic inverters, UPS power supplies, charging piles, high-end household appliances and other fields. Mainly used in server power supply, titanium-level switching power supply, 5G communication power supply, vehicle power supply and other fields. With the development of silicon carbide and gallium nitride technologies, there is room for further improvement in the development of high-frequency power electronics, which puts forward higher requirements for the high-frequency characteristics of metal magnetic powder cores, and also provides metal magnetic powder cores in some application scenarios. Replacing ferrites provides more possibilities, and the next generation of high-frequency low-loss metal magnetic powder cores is a new growth point in the SMC industry.

Industry development trend analysis

In 2017, the American Powder Metallurgy Industry Federation updated the "2017 PM INDUSTRY ROADMAP" (powder metallurgy industry roadmap) to analyze the future powder metallurgy market. Growth opportunities for the powder metallurgy industry over the next 10 years include industries such as energy, aerospace, medical/dental, electrical alloys, and magnetic materials, defense, industrial and consumer products, noted. The powder metallurgy industry can play a greater role in improving performance and reducing weight. The new energy industry will become a new market and new application field for the powder metallurgy industry. The aging population will continue to increase the application scope of powder metallurgy products in the medical industry. The development of the global economy and the improvement of living standards will promote the application of powder metallurgy components in consumer products.

Lightweight technology is an important means of energy conservation and emission reduction. The use of lightweight and high-strength materials and lightweight structural design are the two major measures to achieve lightweighting. The powder metallurgy process has the characteristics of energy saving and material saving, and is a green production technology for energy saving and emission reduction. The representatives of lightweight materials are aluminum-based, titanium-based, and magnesium-based materials, of which aluminum alloys are the most promising. Replacing some iron-based parts, it has already played a major role in automotive lightweight applications. In some high-end applications, magnesium-based parts have also been used. With the advancement of technology, the complexity of the structure has prompted its powder metallurgy manufacturing process to be gradually promoted.

MIM is an advanced molding technology that combines the advantages of powder metallurgy compression molding and plastic injection molding. It breaks through the limitations of metal powder molding technology in product shape. It can produce precision structural parts with high complexity, high precision, high strength, beautiful appearance and micro-miniature specifications. Compared with press forming, MIM has certain comparative advantages in terms of relative density and three-dimensional design in small and micro parts. Globally, the MIM process has been widely used in many fields such as automobiles, electronic products, medical devices, and consumer goods. However, there are obvious differences in the application structure of MIM around the world: the MIM process is mainly used in the electronic product industry in the Asian market, in the medical device and other fields in the North American market, and in the automotive and consumer goods industry in the European market.

Soft magnetic composite material (SMC) is a new type of magnetic material. Because of its high saturation magnetic induction and low loss, it is known as the "fourth generation" soft magnetic material. It is used in high-frequency motors, high-power and high-frequency switching power supplies. Transformers, high-frequency high-power energy storage inductors, etc. have huge application advantages and broad market prospects. At present, the soft magnetic composite material industry is on the eve of the industry explosion, and countries around the world have invested a lot of energy to increase the research, development and demonstration application of metal magnetic powder core soft magnetic. With the continuous advancement of electronic technology, the market demand for metal magnetic powder cores with high magnetic induction strength and not easy to saturate under high current operating conditions is increasing. Electric vehicles offer opportunities for innovative designs in powder metallurgy. For example, soft-magnetic composite cores can be used in main drive motors and in motors for oil and cooling pumps.

The composite technology of powder metallurgy and polymer materials has endowed powder metallurgy with new development vitality. Combining powder metallurgy products with rubber or plastic can play a role in the field of vibration reduction and noise reduction. For example, powder metallurgy rubberized sprockets are used in engine VVT ​​systems to reduce noise, and powder metallurgy rubberized gears are used in 3-cylinder engine balance shaft systems. Reduces engine vibration. The plastic gears are connected to the powder metallurgy products, which can be used in the fields of small load and noise reduction.

In order to improve the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of powder metallurgy products, surface treatment technologies such as thermal spraying, electrostatic spraying, electroless plating, and physical vapor deposition will be used. Spraying organic or inorganic coatings with a thickness of about a dozen microns on the surface of powder metallurgy products can extend the salt spray corrosion resistance time of powder metallurgy products to 500 to 1000 hours. When friction reduction is required, a solid lubricating film with a thickness of several microns is prepared on the surface of powder metallurgy products by physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology, which can significantly reduce the friction coefficient and play a role in reducing friction. A nickel-phosphorus alloy film with uniform thickness is chemically plated on the surface of powder metallurgy products. Due to the high hardness of nickel-phosphorus alloy and its amorphous structure, it can play the role of corrosion resistance and wear resistance at the same time, thereby further expanding the application of powder metallurgy in resistance to Application in the field of corrosion and wear resistance.

Compared with developed countries, China's powder metallurgy still has a certain gap in technical level, but with the application of powder metallurgy technology in emerging fields in recent years, such as 5G communication and new energy, China has been at the forefront of the world in this regard. . The future development direction of China's powder metallurgy will still focus on industrial upgrading, import substitution and high-quality development requirements, continue to develop and reserve new technologies and new processes, and use lean automated manufacturing technology to adapt to the new era of energy conservation and environmental protection requirements, and move towards denser It is developing in the direction of chemicalization, high precision, high density, complex structure, components, and improving magnetoelectric performance. With the emergence and breakthrough of new technologies, new processes and new energy, such as injection molding, powder forging, sprocket coating, powder brazing and other technological breakthroughs, the application fields of powder metallurgy products continue to emerge, and the market space continues to expand.