With the continuous expansion of the use and application of aluminium products, the competition between low and middle-end aluminium products is becoming increasingly fierce. More and more aluminium processing enterprises have increased their investment in deep processing to extend the deep processing of aluminium products downstream. This trend was also reflected in the just concluded 2007 China International Aluminum Industry Exhibition.

New Blue Sea for Aeronautical Aluminum Materials

Aluminum has always been a key structural material in the aviation industry, but in recent years, with the development of technology, the aluminum industry is also facing competition from other materials, the proportion of which in civil aircraft and other materials has a downward trend. Hu Yanping, senior engineer of China Aviation Industry Development Research Center, presented at the "Forum on Aluminum Deep Processing". Among the structural materials of A380 airliner, 61% are aluminium alloy, while the aluminium alloy consumption of B787 airliner has dropped to 20%. At the same time, the amount of composites increased dramatically.

Despite the challenges of other materials, Hu pointed out that the field of aluminium alloy is also developing, and new breakthroughs in aircraft engines are also being sought. For example, Alcoa and PW have developed fan blades made of aluminium alloy. In addition, in the new aircraft design, the regression signals of metal materials such as aluminium alloy are gradually revealed. B787 wing contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries changed the wing material design of MRJ regional aircraft from composite material to aluminum alloy; A350XWB is not a full-purpose composite material, but a hybrid structure of advanced metal materials and composite materials.

According to Boeing's forecast for future global passenger aircraft demand, by 2020, the number of aircraft will reach 33,000, an increase of about 33% compared with the current 24,891, and by 2036, the global demand for aircraft will reach 46,950, plus scrap replacement, a total of 41,030 aircraft will be needed.

The increasing demand for airliners will bring about the demand for materials. Anteco expects that from 2017 to 2036, 2.63 million tons of aluminium will be needed for civil aircraft, including 2.24 million tons of aluminium.

From the domestic point of view, the successful development of domestic aircraft such as C919 has also led to strong demand for aviation aluminum and its components. With the rapid development of China's aviation industry, the market demand for aviation aluminium products will be greatly expanded.

However, the high-end aluminium materials used in aerospace industry are also the shortcomings of China's aluminium industry, which has maintained a net import situation for many years. It is reported that the total quality of C919 aluminum accounted for 65% of the total net quality of the aircraft, but mainly imported from abroad, the proportion of domestic materials used on C919 is not large.

In the future, China's C919 trunk airliner, ARJ21 and new series of regional airliners and other aircraft projects are expected to give 80% of the purchase opportunities of aviation aluminium sheet to Chinese local enterprises. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Non-ferrous Metals Industry Development Planning (2016-2020)" also clearly states that it will push forward the localization of aviation aluminium materials, and make the development and application of key brands of aluminium materials a key work programme in 2017, striving to break through technical barriers and achieve the goal of all localization of aluminium materials.

This undoubtedly provides a good opportunity for the development of domestic aviation aluminium materials. There is a huge space for import substitution and development of high-end aluminium materials for aviation in China, but at the same time, it also strengthens the sense of urgency for China's aluminium processing enterprises to develop and produce aluminium alloys for aviation civil aircraft. High-end aviation aluminium is still a vast application of the new "blue sea", waiting for China's aluminium processing enterprises to "dig gold", and the urgent needs of domestic aviation aluminium processing enterprises also urgently need China's aluminium processing enterprises to step up research and development of high-end aviation aluminium products, improve product quality and enhance supporting production capacity.

Applying trend of aluminium alloy shell is obvious

In recent years, the consumer market has developed rapidly. Aluminum alloys are increasingly used in 3C electronics because of their high appearance, lightweight, high strength, high corrosion resistance and other characteristics, and more in line with the fashionable consumption concept of young people. With the continuous maturity of processing technology and technology in aluminium processing enterprises, the cost of aluminium alloy is decreasing day by day, and the products are lighter, more environmentally friendly and more beautiful, which makes the packaging of various consumer electronic products gradually change to aluminium alloy material.

The data show that in 2016, the penetration rate of aluminium alloy case of mobile phone is about 38%, that of tablet computer is about 50%, and that of notebook computer is about 30%.

With the steady development of consumer electronics market, consumers and consumer electronics enterprises pay more and more attention to product appearance design and material technology.

"Innovation is an unchanged theme in the field of consumer electronics." Zhao Yongjun, deputy general manager of Kunshan Qianxun Metal Products Co., Ltd., said on the "Forum on Aluminum Deep Processing". From the current development trend of consumer electronics, the metallization of chassis has become an important direction of appearance innovation, and gradually formed the trend of large-scale application. He predicts that the demand for aluminium in the four consumer electronics sectors of mobile phones, tablets, mobile power and televisions will be about 120,000 tons in 2017, and it is expected to increase to nearly 200,000 tons in 2018.

However, Zhao Yongjun also pointed out that the primary factor for the metallization of electronic products is the breakthrough of technical bottlenecks. From the point of view of the relevant domestic manufacturers, there are very few manufacturers with overall solution capability for appearance. There are also few manufacturers with advantages in stamping, die casting, CNC and other single processes. The market demand is not satisfied, and the production capacity hangs upside down seriously.

He believes that it is a problem that needs to be solved in the industry to pay attention to the new properties, new technologies, new trends and new applications of aluminium materials, expand the aluminium market and further open the channels between technology enterprises and brand manufacturers.

The rapid development of downstream industries, such as construction, transportation and electronics, not only promotes the rising demand for aluminium, but also puts forward higher requirements for the precision processing and forming technology and innovation ability of aluminium materials. The deep processing of aluminium materials has broad market prospects. For aluminium processing enterprises, in today's increasingly fierce homogeneous competition, in line with market demand, vigorous development of intensively processed aluminium products will also help them stand out in the competition and achieve sustainable development. (China Nonferrous Metal Network)