Industry Forecast
Investment Casting Industry in Mainland China
by Zhigang LU, Tsinghua University, & Yun ZHANG, Investment Casting Branch of China Foundry Association T
he lost wax casting process has a long history in China and created a splendid bronze culture in ancient times. In modern industry, investment casting process has also been used in Mainland China for more than 60 years.
In China, investment casting
technology began to sprout in the 1950s and gradually grew from the 1960s to the 1980s. Since the 1990s, investment casting has entered a stage of rapid development. After nearly 30 years of development, the Mainland China has formed a complete industrial chain of material, equipment and casting production. Casting products serve aerospace, industrial gas turbine, automotive and general
industry. In
particular, as a result of the reform and opening up policy, investment casting from Mainland China has been welcomed in the international market and its export scale has been expanding.
Up to now, investment casting in Mainland China can be divided into high value-added casting, automotive casting and general commercial casting. The total output value in 2019 was 2.932 billion US dollars, down 4.8% from 2018. This is the second decline in output since 2012. Figure 1 shows the change of output value in Mainland China since 2012.
As shown in Figure 2, general
commercial castings account for the largest proportion of investment casting output value, reaching 66%. High value- added castings and automotive castings account for 22% and 12% respectively.
Figure 1: Output Value Of Investment Casting Industry In Chinese Mainland
High Value-Added Casting With the rapid development of China’s economy, the demand for high-end investment casting in Mainland China continues to increase. In particular, the aviation industry has become the main driving force for the production of high value-added investment casting. With a vast territory and a large population, China has a huge market not only for civil aircraft, but also for military aircraft for national defense. China has its own military aircraft production system and is developing a civil aircraft manufacturing system.
In order to meet the demand of
aviation industry for high value-added castings, aero-engine enterprises continue to expand the scale of casting production. Some private capital also
22 ❘ January 2020 ®
focuses on this sector and invests in the establishment of new factories.
In 2019, the output value of high
value-added castings reached $ 0.635 billion, an increase of 12% compared with 2018.
In the following years, as breakthroughs are made in the design and manufacturing of China’s aero engines and industrial
gas turbines,
the growth rate of high value-added investment casting will increase.
Automotive Casting The output of this sector is closely related to the automotive market. In China, the largest automotive market in the world, sales are on the decline in 2019. From January to November, the production and sales of automotive were 23.04
China
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