aluminium profile exhibition | China's "Lightweighting" in Transportation has Just Begun, Signifying Significant Domestic Market Development Potential for Aluminum Materials
In recent years, the lightweighting trend in the four major transportation sectors of automobiles, rail transit, aviation, and maritime has become increasingly prominent. Aluminium alloy sections, due to their various excellent characteristics, have become a crucial raw material for achieving lightweight transportation, leading to a rapid increase in demand.
Lightweighting as a Trend
Reducing the weight of transportation vehicles can decrease fuel consumption, enhance transportation efficiency, and play a significant role in reducing environmental pollution.
Aluminum for transportation has become a new economic growth driver in the aluminum industry. Globally, the growth rate of aluminum consumption in the transportation sector exceeds 6%, with demand in transportation and vehicles expected to grow by over 8%. Aluminum materials used in transportation equipment are more than 30% lighter in weight compared to steel, with reliable safety factors. Therefore, the use of aluminum alloys to achieve lightweighting in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry is a major trend. Aluminum alloys, with their lightweight properties and excellent oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance, are expected to find increasingly widespread applications in the transportation and vehicle sector.
To expand the application of aluminum, a mechanism of cooperation between upstream and downstream sectors will be established. Building upon the cooperation mechanism for civil aircraft aluminum materials established with the guidance and support of government bodies such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), the Ministry of Transport (MOT), the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), industry organizations such as the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the China Construction Industry Association (CCIA), and the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI), as well as key enterprises, universities, and research institutes, a mechanism for consultation and exchange will be established. This mechanism will facilitate the joint development of technological processes, product quality, and engineering construction standards for aluminum application products. Efforts will continue to be made to consolidate and expand the application of aluminum materials in areas such as trailer trucks, coal transport vehicles, construction templates, and aluminum protective panels for construction. Progress will be made in the application of aluminum materials in civil aircraft aluminum, automotive body panels, urban new energy bus bodies, ship aluminum alloy plates, aluminum alloy flood walls, urban aluminum structure overpasses, and bridge inspection platforms.
From the perspective of applications in developed countries and regions, aluminum products are becoming the "new favorites" in transportation sectors such as automobiles, aviation, maritime, and rail transit. In the transportation sector, including passenger cars, fully aluminum trailers, aluminum oil tankers, C80 coal transport open cars, high-speed railways, city subways, and metro systems, there is the potential to increase the market demand for aluminum by 10 million tons in the future. The development of "large aircraft" and the advancement of projects related to ships and yachts also provide growth opportunities for the aluminum industry.
As per the Aluminum Profile Exhibition, aluminum alloy materials have been widely used in the aviation industry for nearly a century. While the proportion of aluminum alloys in the aviation industry, especially in military aviation, has decreased due to competition from titanium alloys and composite materials, the requirements for the performance of aluminum materials have increased. Developing ultra-high-strength aluminum alloys, high-damage-tolerance alloys, and high-strength, high-toughness, and high-quenching alloys for large integral structures has become a major trend. Although the proportion of aluminum alloy materials has decreased, the overall demand for aluminum used in aviation is still on the rise due to the increase in the number of civil and military aircraft. In addition, the localization of materials for the C919 large aircraft is one of the growth points for domestically produced aluminum alloy materials in the aviation sector.