Titanium Flanges Embrace New Development Opportunities: The "15th Five-Year Plan" Guides Industrial Upgrading

As the national "15th Five-Year Plan" continues to increase support for high-end manufacturing, related "15th Five-Year Plan" schemes from various regions have been recently announced. Titanium flanges, widely used in aerospace, shipbuilding, chemical energy, and many other fields as essential pipe connection components in equipment manufacturing, are ushering in a new round of development opportunities under the dual impetus of policy and market.

The "Shaanxi Province Non-Ferrous Metal Industry Carbon Peak Implementation Plan," jointly issued by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, clearly states the need to actively promote the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of the non-ferrous metal industry towards high-end, intelligent, and green development. Additionally, this plan emphasizes pooling efforts and resources to build an internationally competitive titanium materials industrial cluster. As a crucial and strategically significant component of the non-ferrous metal industry, the titanium materials sector is expected to receive more policy support during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Loudi City in

Hunan Province plans to incorporate the titanium materials industry into its "15th Five-Year Plan" development plan, aiming to achieve a deep processing and application scale of titanium and titanium alloy materials exceeding 100,000 tons by 2030 and to establish the largest and most technologically advanced titanium materials deep processing industrial chain production base in central China. This ambitious blueprint showcases Loudi City's long-term layout and unwavering confidence in the titanium materials field, providing the titanium flange industry with ample raw material supply and broad market development space.

Shaanxi Province, as the largest titanium and titanium alloy production base in China, currently has over 800 related enterprises and 6 national-level professional research and development platforms in the titanium and titanium alloy field. In 2024, Shaanxi achieved significant results in titanium material processing, processing approximately 100,000 tons of titanium materials, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%, accounting for 60% and 45% of the national and global total processing volume respectively, with an output value exceeding 80 billion yuan. This solid industrial foundation indicates that Shaanxi will continue to maintain a leading position and possess broad development prospects in the titanium field in the future, providing strong support for the development of the titanium flange industry during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

The latest market research data indicates that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the overall market size of titanium flanges is expected to show sustained and stable growth. Meanwhile, the demand for titanium flanges from multiple industries is accelerating, meaning the application scope of titanium flanges across various sectors will continue to expand, and its market potential will be gradually tapped. Whether in traditional manufacturing or emerging technology fields, titanium flanges demonstrate an irreplaceable importance, thereby driving the steady expansion of the market size.

The aerospace sector is a key area for titanium material consumption. In 2024, China's aerospace sector used 32,193 tons of titanium materials, accounting for 21.3% of the total titanium material consumption. It is projected that by 2027, China's aerospace titanium material usage is expected to further increase, potentially exceeding 39,000 tons, showing a continuous upward trend. With the upgrading of military aircraft, the batch delivery of domestic aircraft like the C919, and the expansion of the aviation maintenance market, the demand for high-end titanium flanges in the aerospace sector will continue to grow, and the application prospects for titanium materials in this field are extremely broad.

The shipbuilding and marine engineering sector shows extremely strong demand. Specifically, China's shipbuilding sector used over 4,900 tons of titanium materials in 2024, a year-on-year growth rate as high as 32%, fully reflecting the robust demand from this sector.

Driven by the national strategy to vigorously promote the construction of a maritime power and develop the deep-sea economy, the technological upgrading and scale expansion of ships and deep-sea equipment have become inevitable trends. Equipment in this field is gradually developing towards larger scales and greater depths. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the demand for titanium alloy materials in the shipbuilding field will grow rapidly, and deep-sea and underwater application areas are expected to become new growth points for the titanium flange market.

 The demand for titanium flanges in the chemical and energy sectors should not be underestimated. Due to their excellent corrosion resistance, titanium materials are ideal choices for many critical equipment such as chemical processing equipment, seawater desalination plants, and nuclear power facilities. With the development of the green energy industry and increasing environmental protection requirements, the application scope of titanium flanges in related fields will further expand.

During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the titanium flange industry will pay more attention to technological research and development and innovation-driven development. The significant achievements made by the Northwest Institute for Non-ferrous Metal Research during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period provide us with experience and insights. During that period, the institute successfully resolved 15 "bottleneck" issues restricting industrial development in the fields of advanced titanium alloy materials and large-scale material preparation technology, achieved major breakthroughs in 26 engineering technologies, and developed over 200 new products. These technological breakthroughs and achievements have laid a solid foundation for the sustained and steady development of the titanium flange industry during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

Baoti Group, as a leading enterprise in Shaanxi Province's titanium and titanium alloy industrial chain, has in recent years successively overcome a series of challenges in key areas such as melting technology, processing techniques, deep processing technology, and equipment manufacturing, effectively promoting the technological progress and high-quality development of the province's titanium industry. The group has played a leading role in standardization, formulating over 90% of the national standards in China's titanium field. Furthermore, 4 titanium international standards led by the group in recent years have been successively issued and implemented, achieving a zero breakthrough for China in the field of titanium international standard formulation. The continuous improvement and enhancement of these standards will promote the quality improvement of titanium flange products and enhance their competitiveness and influence in the international market.

Important progress has also been made in the field of new material development. β-titanium alloy, due to its elastic modulus being closer to that of human cortical bone, can effectively alleviate issues of stiffness mismatch and stress shielding, showing extremely broad application prospects. Although currently β-titanium alloy is mainly used in the medical field, the innovative research and development ideas and concepts it embodies can be borrowed and applied to the material optimization and innovation of titanium flanges, injecting new vitality and momentum into the future development of the titanium flange industry.

Although the titanium flange industry shows promising development prospects during the "15th Five-Year Plan," a series of challenges it faces should not be underestimated.

The production capacity of high-performance, low-cost titanium alloys still needs improvement. Currently, in the field of high-performance titanium alloy production in China, constrained by equipment capabilities and process technology levels, there is still a significant performance gap compared to international advanced products. This lack of performance weakens the international market competitiveness of the products and constrains the further expansion of the industry. How to effectively reduce production costs while ensuring performance is a key issue that the titanium flange industry needs to focus on overcoming during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

Green development has become an important trend for the non-ferrous metal industry during the "15th Five-Year Plan." The "Non-Ferrous Metal Industry Carbon Peak Implementation Plan" released by Shaanxi Province clearly proposes to closely monitor key links in the smelting and production of high-energy-consuming, high-carbon emission products such as aluminum, zinc, and magnesium, strictly benchmark against national and industry access standards, and reasonably control carbon emission increments.

For the titanium flange industry, achieving sustainable development must involve process improvements and technological innovation to effectively reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions during production, which is also a necessary measure to enhance the industry's own competitiveness.

The synergistic development of the industrial chain is equally crucial. Baoti Group, under Shaanxi Non-ferrous Metals Group, by actively exploring emerging application fields such as new energy, consumer electronics, medical, and automotive lightweighting, and conducting in-depth cooperation with leading enterprises in industries like home appliances and automotive, has accelerated the process of product diversification and application, enhancing the overall competitiveness of the industrial chain. This model of industrial chain synergistic development provides valuable lessons for titanium flange enterprises.

During the "15th Five-Year Plan" stage, with the support of national policies, growth in market demand, and the drive of technological innovation, the titanium flange industry will usher in a new round of development opportunities. Li Hua Titanium Industry, as a contributor and important participant in this industry, maintains a steady development trend in the competitive market environment by virtue of its precise and specialized product positioning, as well as its keen insight and precise grasp of market demand. Looking ahead, titanium flange enterprises need to continuously follow national policy guidance, further increase R&D investment, and actively promote the development of products towards high-end, green, and intelligent directions.

Li Hua Titanium Industry will continue to deepen its technological accumulation, strengthen collaborative cooperation with the upstream and downstream industrial chain, actively explore the market share of titanium flanges in emerging application fields, contribute more strength to the development of China's high-end manufacturing industry, help Chinese titanium flange products occupy a more prominent position in the global market, and enhance China's international competitiveness in this field.