In 2024, affected by factors such as the continuous expansion of production capacity, titanium prices fell to the lowest point in the last decade or so. Data show that as of December 13, the average price of domestically produced titanium sponge has fallen to 43.5 yuan/kg, the lowest level since 2011 records. Analysis pointed out that the accelerated expansion of processing capacity and slow incremental demand, as well as the lower cost of production due to the layout of the whole industrial chain of large enterprises, is the main reason for the downturn in titanium prices.
Despite the downturn in titanium prices, the downstream application scenarios of titanium metal have been further enriched. In addition to the traditional aerospace, petrochemical and other fields, the application of titanium alloy in the field of civil consumer goods has gradually increased, especially in the field of 3C products, titanium alloy has become a popular material choice. In recent years, head cell phone manufacturers have adopted titanium alloy materials, such as Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, etc. The application penetration of titanium alloy in the middle frame of cell phones, folding screen hinges, watch cases, etc. continues to increase, and it is expected that the global cell phone titanium alloy middle frame market size will reach 43.2 billion yuan in 2027.
At the same time, the domestic titanium alloy 3D printing industry is also developing rapidly. A titanium industry leading enterprises announced that part of the investment project will be changed to "titanium alloy 3D printing pilot production line construction project", with a total investment of about 0.57 billion yuan. The largest domestic metal 3D printing service provider also plans to invest 1 billion yuan, the construction of high-quality additive manufacturing raw materials titanium alloy, high-temperature alloy powder production line and other ancillary projects to meet the fast-growing market demand for additive manufacturing industry.
Industry insiders said that compared with the traditional forging and casting processing methods, 3D printing technology can realize the design and manufacture of more complex shapes, save raw materials, improve processing efficiency, is one of the most cost-effective way of titanium alloy processing. In the future, with the continuous progress of technology and further cost reduction, titanium alloy 3D printing is expected to be applied in more fields.
