Aerospace titanium forgings market status and future trends
AMS 6931 Titanium Forging is a key forging of aero-engines. The rings formed by rolling technology have the advantages of compact structure, high strength and good toughness, which cannot be replaced by casting or other manufacturing techniques. Annular forgings such as compressor casing, turbine casing, joint ring, mounting edge, sealing ring and annular flame tube of aero-engine are mainly made of expensive superalloys and titanium alloys. Calculated by value, aero-engine annular forgings account for about 6% of the value of the aircraft engine.
Market Development Status of Titanium Material Industry for Aerospace
High-end titanium alloy materials are mainly used in the aerospace field. Titanium alloy material has the characteristics of high specific strength, good high temperature resistance, meeting the requirements of matching the structure of composite materials, high corrosion resistance, long life, etc. It is mainly used for aircraft landing gear parts, fuselage beams, frames and tight Firmware, etc., engine fans, compressors, blades, drums, casings, shafts, etc., as well as helicopter hubs, connectors, etc. High-end titanium alloy materials have become one of the main structural materials for aircraft and rocket engines in the aerospace field.
High-quality aviation forgings mainly include disks, casings, integral blisks, disk shafts, blade forgings of aero-engine fan and compressor systems, as well as frames, beams, joints, and landing gear forgings of aircraft structures. With the technical progress of aero-engine and aircraft structure design, aviation forgings are developing in the direction of large-scale, integration and precision, which promotes the development and technological progress of forging equipment and its supporting equipment. In order to meet the forging needs of high-quality precision aviation forgings and difficult-to-deform materials, new process technologies such as isothermal forging, hot die forging, segment forging, and corresponding die design and manufacturing and quality control technologies have been developed.
Future Development Prospects of Titanium Materials for Aerospace
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's aerospace titanium materials are expected to usher in rapid development, and its single-year consumption is expected to exceed 40,000 tons by 2025. There are two main logics: First, from the perspective of the structure of titanium consumption in China, the sales of chemicals dominate. Compared with the world, the main difference in the amount of titanium used is in the aviation field. Globally, aviation titanium materials always account for about 50% of the total titanium consumption, while the proportion of domestic aviation titanium materials is only 18.41% in 2020. , the aviation titanium market still has great potential. Second, the compound annual growth rate of domestic aerospace titanium consumption from 2016 to 2020 is 19.25%. Looking forward to the 14th Five-Year Plan, benefiting from the strong demand in the downstream military and civil aerospace fields, it is expected that the compound growth rate in the next five years is expected to remain at the level of the 13th Five-Year Plan. By 2025, the annual consumption of titanium materials for aerospace in China will be will exceed 40,000 tons.
Titanium is a strategic metal with excellent performance. It has the characteristics of high specific strength, strong corrosion resistance, and good high and low temperature performance, among which high specific strength performance is particularly prominent. With the excellent properties of titanium, titanium materials are widely used in chemical, marine engineering, aerospace, military, metallurgy, medical, sports and leisure fields. High-end titanium materials have strict quality requirements and have high barriers to technology, capital, equipment, etc. Among them, military titanium materials also have high qualification barriers.
For more than ten years, China has made great progress in the equipment capacity and process technology of titanium alloy smelting, forging, heat treatment, machining and other aspects. Blade and casing forgings provide good equipment conditions and process foundation. The safe use of aircraft and aero-engines is largely limited by the metallurgical quality, microstructure, microstructure and mechanical properties of raw materials and forgings. The quality of raw materials and forgings is limited by the manufacturing process and equipment conditions. Quality control The main means is through the establishment of corresponding material and forging standards, thermal process and inspection standards. In the process of transitioning from the development stage to the production stage, China's aviation titanium alloy materials have gradually established corresponding material standards and process specifications at different levels, such as enterprise standards, model standards, aviation standards, national military standards, etc., as materials or forgings. and the basis for acceptance.
Most of the titanium alloy materials in service in China are mainly imported from foreign brands. Therefore, when formulating material standards and forgings standards, the technical requirements and regulations of relevant foreign standards are basically used as reference or equivalent. When applying material or forging standards, there are often ambiguities in the understanding and actual operation of terms such as chemical composition range control, impurity element content control, thermal process system, high and low magnification structure, ultrasonic testing, and mechanical performance index requirements.
