Apple's new patent refers directly to the titanium alloy process. In January 2021, Apple obtained a patent for "method for semi-gloss treatment of titanium metal", which involves the process of combining sandblasting and etching with a chemical anodizing process to achieve the desired surface effect; Process for creating textured surfaces on titanium alloy" patent license. According to PatentlyApple statistics, up to now, Apple has obtained 8 patents related to titanium alloy materials. In addition, the Apple iPhone 15 high-end series Ultra is named the same as the Apple Watch titanium alloy series. If Apple’s new titanium alloy technology is applied to the middle frame of the new generation of mobile phones, it will bring about iterative demand for polishing equipment.
My country's sponge titanium production capacity is increasing year by year, and there is a gap in aerospace high-end titanium materials
The world's major titanium sponge consumption and production countries include the United States and Japan. Among them, the annual consumption of sponge titanium in the United States is about 50% of the global total. The development of my country's titanium industry originated in the 1960s. At present, a complete titanium sponge production system has been formed, and the quality of titanium for civilian use has been significantly improved. my country's titanium sponge production capacity has been increasing year by year, and its output ranks first in the world. Magnesium reduction method (Claure method) is the main process for the production of sponge titanium, that is, metal magnesium reduces titanium tetrachloride to obtain titanium metal. The equipment used includes stainless steel reactor, electric arc furnace and so on.
My country's titanium production ranks first in the world, and the overall growth is relatively fast. Among them, the low-end product market is mainly driven by the demand of PTA, chemical and other industries, and the high-end product market is mainly driven by the upgrading and domestic substitution of aerospace and other fields. Shaanxi is the main production province of titanium materials in my country. The overall concentration of the industry is high, and there is a gap in high-end titanium materials. In 2020, the CR3 of my country's titanium processing materials industry will reach 47%, and the CR5 will reach 59%. Part of the reason is that its downstream markets are mostly aerospace, military and pharmaceutical fields, which have higher requirements for product quality. At present, my country's titanium industry presents a structural overcapacity, mainly due to the overcapacity of low-end titanium materials for civil use, and a supply gap for high-end titanium materials used in aerospace.
Titanium alloy processing is difficult, and cutting and grinding technology is often used
Titanium alloys are difficult to process and have low yields. Due to the characteristics of high strength, low thermal conductivity and high chemical activity, the mechanical processing of titanium alloys is relatively difficult. At present, most of the processing of titanium alloy products adopts cutting and grinding processing technology, which needs diamond abrasive belt, spherical bonded abrasive grinding head, poly Special components such as crystal superhard material tools and different CBN grinding wheels (brazed grinding wheels, electroplated grinding wheels and ceramic grinding wheels) are processed. Taking the middle frame of a mobile phone as an example, according to Aibang Polymer data, the overall yield rate of a titanium alloy mobile phone middle frame is about 30%-40%, which is far lower than 80% of an aluminum alloy middle frame.
