High-speed steel cutter shrinks in the domestic market to find ways to reopen the market

The common knives in the Chinese market include high-speed steel cutters, hard alloy cutters, cermet cutters, and PCD/PCBN superhard tools. In addition to the complicated forming tools (root cutter, gear hob, broach, tap), high-speed steel cutters are mostly low-end tools with high value and low value. Luo Baihui, Secretary-General of the International Model Association pointed out that with the rapid upgrading of China's manufacturing industry, the continuous promotion of advanced cutting technology and carbide cutting tools, high-speed steel tools are shrinking in the domestic market, and their share is now less than 60%; In the precision turning of steel and cast iron, it maintains its advantages and its market share is about 2%; ceramic tools are promoted in high-speed milling, especially in the field of machining materials, and account for about 1% of the market share; superhard materials PCD/PCBN The market share is about 2%, mainly concentrated on the processing of non-ferrous metals and ferrous metals.

1. The current situation of hard bit is that the drilling process is under the condition of poor cooling and chipping conditions, and the technical requirements are high, so the added value of the bit product is also high. High-end hard bit products are mainly used in automotive, aerospace, construction machinery, high-speed rail, power equipment, power equipment, refrigeration equipment and other high-end precision machining.

Only a handful of domestic cutting tool companies can enter these high-end manufacturing fields and compete with international brands. For example, in the field of automotive engine manufacturing that has the most stringent requirements for cutting tools, domestic brands that can often be seen are only a few companies such as Suzhou Arnold, Zhuzhou Diamond and Shanghai Tool Factory. In recent years, Suzhou Arnold has developed rapidly. In addition to producing non-standard drill bits, it has started production and sales of standard hard-bits in 2011. Even in other precision manufacturing fields, only Zhuzhou Diamond and Suzhou Arnold's hard bit have competed with international first-tier brands on the same stage. According to rough statistics, in 2010 China had about 900 million yuan in market demand for high-grade hard bits, while the localization rate for high-end hard bits was roughly 15%.

At present, the high-end hard bits commonly used in the Chinese market mainly come from industrialized countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan, such as Sandvik, Kenna, Cobalt, Teteks, Mapa and Japan’s Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Oushi. .

Most of these companies have a large number of standard drill stocks in Singapore or mainland China, and also put some non-standard drill bits into China. The quality of drills in Korea and Taiwan is also not very strong, so it is rare in the market.

The gap between most domestic tool companies and international first-line tool brands in terms of hard bit is mainly in design concept, manufacturing details, material selection, and coating treatment. The specific products with the largest performance gap between the domestic and foreign drill bits include drill bits for machining steel parts, deep hole twist drills for replacing gun drills, drills for processing high-temperature alloys, and high-hardness steels. In these areas, only a few domestic companies have mastered design and manufacturing techniques.

2. The status of hard end mills The hard end mills can be divided into general purpose and high end types. In general, the technical difficulty of universal hard-end milling cutter is relatively small, and the gap between product quality and foreign countries is not great. In fact, most of China's cemented carbide cutting tool companies, including private knife enterprises, state-owned tool factories, and Taiwanese knife companies in the mainland, are manufacturing hard-end milling cutters. Domestic hard-end milling cutters occupy most of the low-end Chinese market at a low price, and the competition is fierce.

However, in some high-end manufacturing fields such as difficult machining and high-speed milling, there is still a certain gap between the quality of China's hard end mills and the world's first-line branded tools, such as high-hardness milling cutters, high-speed milling cutters, and titanium. Alloy cutters, graphite cutters, aerospace composite cutters, precision cutters, etc. These hard end mills have a high added value, and the main market share is occupied by foreign manufacturers, such as Sandvik, Kenner, Yu Jie, Hitachi, Frasa, Prototyp, SGS, Jabro, OSG, Hanita, LMT and so on.

According to incomplete statistics, in 2010, the Chinese market had about 1.5 billion yuan in demand for high-end hard-end milling cutters, and the localization rate was close to 30%.

The current challenges and areas for improvement include: mechanical and structural properties: hardness, strength, abrasion resistance; thermal and chemical properties: heat resistance, insulation, catalytic properties; biological properties: adaptability, insecticidal properties Electronic and optical properties: reflective, transparent and so on. In recent years, (Ti, Al) coated carbide cutting tools have occupied a dominant position in the high performance tool market. The high demand in some special applications promotes the development of special coatings or precision coatings.

Now, we must face the gap between China's cutting tool companies and foreign companies, including basic technologies, innovation capabilities, promotion capabilities, and service capabilities. The user needs and tool companies should be made to lead in innovation. Leading companies should take the lead in the application of technology. However, Shen Zhuangxing said that some key domestic enterprises and new outstanding private enterprises have made great progress in the development of modern and efficient tools, such as Zhuzhou Diamond, Xiamen Golden Heron and Arnold Knives. These companies attach importance to technological progress and will provide services. Put in the first place and achieved remarkable results in related fields.