Tiancheng Aviation Materials: Target aerospace titanium to seize the outlet for high-quality development

Titanium and its alloys are known as "space metal", "future metal", and "marine metal".
With their advantages of high strength and strong corrosion resistance, they have broad application prospects in many fields such as aviation, aerospace, and medical treatment.

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Since the 21st century, due to the rapid development of aviation, aerospace, navigation and other high-end equipment manufacturing industries, the demand for titanium materials has also become higher and higher.
All sectors of society have aggressively marched into the titanium industry, and the influx of large amounts of capital has also brought more to the industry.
New opportunities
.
As early as 2010, the amount of funds invested in the titanium industry in China has reached 20 billion yuan.
After more than 10 years of development, China has successfully ranked among the world's largest titanium industry and titanium consumers, but it is still in the titanium processing technology with the United States, Russia and other countries.
There is a big gap in the level, and it has never entered the "titanium technology powerhouse"
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Obviously, the current titanium industry is falling into the whirlpool of "high-end industry low-end", and the entire industry urgently needs to be injected with fresh blood and vitality
.
If this is the case, will the label of "high-end" for the titanium industry be able to avoid the industry's internal turmoil? Regarding this question, the answer may be found in Che Wei
.



01.
Across the "homogeneous" hills


In 2007, a rising star is rising in Xi'an, a hot land full of vitality
.
A titanium processing plant with a total investment of more than 70 million yuan-Xianyang Tiancheng Titanium Industry Co.
, Ltd.
(the overall name was changed to "Shaanxi Tiancheng Aviation Materials Co.
, Ltd.
" in 2017, hereinafter referred to as "Tiancheng Aviation Materials") was formally established
.



"In the early days of its establishment, the company has been at the bottom of the titanium industry, relying on simple processing to survive in the fierce competition in the industry
.
" Tiancheng Aviation Materials General Manager Che Wei recalled
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At that time, under the leadership of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and other policies, my country's titanium industry quickly entered the stage of rising, and a large number of private titanium enterprises emerged in just 2 years.

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According to relevant statistics, in 2008, in Baoji area alone, there were more than 240 private titanium enterprises with tens of thousands of employees and annual sales of nearly 10 billion yuan.
The titanium industry is booming
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However, due to the low entry barriers and low technical barriers of China's titanium industry, most of the titanium products on the market are clustered in the low-end and mid-range sectors
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With the passage of time, the dividends left by the reform and opening up are no longer there.
No matter how big the cake is, there will always be a day when it is finished
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Instead of struggling in the mud of homogenization, it is better to think about how to jump out of the "swamp" and embark on the path of differentiation, high-end, large-scale, and market-oriented development
.
This has become the development priority of many titanium private enterprises
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In order to get rid of the shackles of the low level of industry development, Che Wei led the team to settle down and gradually shift the focus to the research and development and application of titanium materials in high-tech fields such as aerospace and aerospace
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"After a lot of market analysis and investigation, we are more aware of the importance of independent controllability of key core materials.
If the problem of material end is not solved, China's aviation, aerospace, navigation and other high-end equipment manufacturing will always be stuck by foreign countries.

"Che Wei said
.



In 2017, Tiancheng Aviation Materials took an important step in innovation—starting the construction of the "Technical Renovation and Expansion of Ten Thousand Tons of Aviation Titanium Alloy Project" (Phase 1).
Without reference and precedent, it successfully built China's first A full-process temperature-controlled rolling production line for aerospace-grade titanium alloy rods and wires and the world's largest special metal bar production line will be completed by the end of 2020, and the process level has reached the international first-class level
.



In November 2020, Tiancheng Aviation Material’s rod and wire production line officially rolled off China’s first titanium coil for aviation fasteners with a unit weight of 200kg, filling a number of domestic technical gaps in one fell swoop, becoming the first domestic and third international A company that owns this preparation technology
.



"The successful preparation of this coil is of historical significance to the transformation and upgrading of our enterprise and the entire industry.
It can realize the import substitution of titanium used in aviation fasteners in China and meet the urgent needs of national aviation!" At that moment, Che Wei was still excited
.



It is worth mentioning that, at present, Tiancheng Aviation Materials has broken through a number of technical barriers through independent research and development and independent design.
In addition to the titanium coils for aviation fasteners, the ultra-fine crystal rods for engine blades developed by Tiancheng Aviation Materials and The use of high-consistency rods for engine disc and shaft parts has also achieved catch-up and surpassing foreign countries, which can greatly increase the service life of domestic engines and empower China's aviation industry to upgrade
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According to Che Wei, in order to further improve, Tiancheng Aviation Materials also controls the smelting and forging links at various levels, striving for perfection
.
At present, Tiancheng Aviation Materials has successfully introduced advanced equipment such as 10t vacuum cold gun electron beam cooling bed furnace, 10t vacuum consumable electric arc furnace, 100MN electrode pressing unit and other advanced equipment, forming the world's leading "EBCHM+VAR" process route, which is a high-purity, The production of high-uniformity and high-uniformity titanium material provides source protection
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The crack of life will eventually become the pattern of the story
.
After experiencing the pains of transformation, Tiancheng Aviation Materials is now present in front of everyone, like a soldier who is ready and ready to go
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200kg titanium coil for aviation fasteners


02.
Less is more, slow is faster


As an ideal lightweight structural material, titanium alloys are used in aircraft engines and airframes due to their high strength and good corrosion resistance.
And airborne equipment, which can greatly reduce aircraft weight, improve aircraft safety and reduce overall costs.
The amount of titanium alloy is often used as an indicator to measure the advanced level of aircraft material selection and the development level of the aviation industry
.



With the upgrading of China's aviation aircraft and the increase in the amount of titanium used by the advancement of single-machine manufacturing technology, superimposing China's high-end equipment or ushering in a period of great development, China's aviation and aerospace titanium alloy market is expected to enter a stage of rapid development
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However, the long-term characteristics of high entry barriers and the direct ratio of the investment period to the high return period in the aviation and aerospace titanium alloy market have formed the current oligopoly market competition pattern
.



Instead of sticking to the "idea of ​​besieged city", it is better to tear down the "city wall"
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In 2021, experience