Cemented carbide is known as “industrial teeth”. Because of its high hardness and wear resistance, it is widely used in various fields of the national economy such as engineering, machinery, automobiles, and electronics. China’s cemented carbide industry started in the 1950s, about 20 years later than developed countries such as Europe and the United States. Tungsten carbide consumes about half of the consumption of tungsten. China is the world’s largest tungsten resource country and the world’s largest producer of cemented carbide.
China’s cemented carbide output accounts for 1/3 of the world
At present, the production capacity and output of China’s cemented carbide industry account for 1/3 of the world, and the circulation in the international market accounts for 1/3 of the total, but the sales are less than 5% of the total market sales. At present, China’s cemented carbide industry shows the following characteristics:
The industrial system was gradually improved. In the early 1980s, when the world’s annual output of cemented carbide was 15,000 tons, China’s annual output of cemented carbide was about 5,000 tons. In the 21st century, the world’s annual output of cemented carbide reached 38,000 tons, while China’s cemented carbide output has rapidly increased to 15,000 tons. The varieties of cemented carbide products produced by domestic enterprises are basically complete, with more than 40,000 specifications and models. The output and varieties can basically meet the needs of various domestic economic fields, forming a relatively complete industrial system.
Production equipment and process technology continue to improve. In recent years, China’s equipment manufacturing industry for the production of cemented carbide has developed rapidly. A series of advanced equipment such as automatic milling equipment, high-efficiency ball milling, spray drying granulation, high-precision automatic presses, pressure sintering furnaces, and grinding coatings Equipment and process technology have been applied in different manufacturers.
Production enterprises are developing towards scale and grouping. There are some strong cemented carbide manufacturers in China, whose production capacity and scale are continuously expanding. At the same time, a group of new enterprises, especially private enterprises, from small to large, from the production of primary products to the production of high-value-added products such as the deep machining of cemented carbide, the strength continues to increase.
Recycling of waste cemented carbide has achieved remarkable results. In our country, the output of only tungsten carbide, cobalt oxalate, and mixtures recovered from waste cemented carbide by electrolysis, zinc dissolution, etc., and reprocessed production has exceeded 3000 tons per year, accounting for China ’s cemented carbide output. More than 20%.
There are four major problems in China’s cemented carbide industry:
Disordered competition is serious. At present, the production capacity of 160 cemented carbide enterprises in the country has reached 21,000 tons. Except that the production capacity of the two enterprises has reached more than 2,500 tons, a considerable part of the production is only tens of tons. The production of a single product is single. Repeated construction leads to a serious overcapacity.
Low R & D investment and low innovation ability. China’s cemented carbide industry has not yet had a high-level professional R & D institution. Statistics show that in 2003, the investment in scientific research in the cemented carbide industry was less than 200 million yuan, about 24 million U.S. dollars, and the R & D investment of a company in the United States, Kenna, reached 23.6 million U.S. dollars this year. Insufficient capital investment directly leads to the incompatibility and non-advanced R & D equipment and instruments, and it is difficult to attract excellent talents to enter China’s cemented carbide enterprises for high-tech and product development.
Carbide production is out of touch with tool production. Due to historical reasons, the cemented carbide production plant and the tool production plant are managed by the two departments of metallurgy and machinery, resulting in the long-term disconnection of the two inseparable production. Most domestic small enterprises are dominated by manual operations. Even in large state-owned enterprises, manual operations and automated operations coexist. The problems of large production loss, low product accuracy, and low pass rate are outstanding.
The industrial economic efficiency is low. Although the production scale of China’s cemented carbide industry is large, workshop-style enterprises are mainly single products, high value-added and supporting deep-machining products such as high-performance ultra-fine alloys, precision carbide CNC cutting tools, etc., and insufficient machining support. These defects have led to China’s cemented carbide manufacturers generally low efficiency.
Cemented carbide industry needs to accelerate the improvement of product quality
In recent years, with the rapid development of the automotive industry and the continuous expansion of the application of CNC machine tools and machining centers in various fields of mechanical machining, as well as the further implementation of the Western Development and Northeast Revitalization plans, demand for high-performance, high-precision, high-value-added cemented carbide products The cost of cemented carbide tools required by China’s automotive industry alone will reach 8 billion yuan by 2010.
Experts believe that the development of the cemented carbide industry in China has a good resource advantage, should use abundant tungsten resources to improve the quality of cemented carbide products. To this end, the following measures need to be taken:
Increase technology investment in the cemented carbide industry. Enterprises should join hands with universities and research institutes to increase investment in talents and capital, focusing on key areas such as high-precision, high-performance abrasive coating alloys and supporting tools, functionally graded alloys, cemented carbide production technology and process equipment innovation Carry out research to shorten the gap with foreign advanced level.
Carry out a cemented carbide production access system. It should be stipulated that the existing enterprises that have obtained business licenses according to national standards should be reviewed by the national designated agency for their products and the implementation of safety and environmental protection. If they meet the standards, they can continue production; ; Strictly control new cemented carbide production projects. Foreign-funded cemented carbide enterprises wholly-owned or joint ventures in China must produce high-tech products. Investment in raw materials, semi-finished products, and low-grade cemented carbide production projects is not allowed.
Regulate the business activities in the marketing of tungsten products. At present, there is a big gap between the production technology of domestic enterprises and foreign advanced cemented carbide production enterprises. When regulating the export and trade of cemented carbide, government departments should take measures to adjust the structure, variety and total amount of exported cemented carbide products to promote Strong foreign companies seek cooperation in China to make their advanced production technology take root in China.
At the same time, the state should focus on some enterprises with strong development potential from various aspects such as funds, policies and resources, create several strong cemented carbide enterprises with international competitiveness, and continue to launch their own technological property rights and strong international competitiveness. High value-added cemented carbide and deep-processed products.