Composite Superhard Materials and Market Potential

The main raw materials for composite superhard materials are diamond and CBN single crystal, which are processed in HTHP. Composite superhard materials are widely used in traditional industrial fields, such as machining, metallurgy, geology, oil, coal, wood, construction, automobile, and household appliance. In addition,  composite superhard materials are also used in high-tech application fields, such as information technology and national defense. Major products of composite superhard materials include PCD cutters, PCD wire drawing die blank, and PCBN cutters.

Around year 2000, China's superhard materials industry experienced the first development phase. The traditional sheet processing was replaced by powder processing technique. As a result, the cost of diamond declined substantially, after which the output of diamond rose rapidly in China. The annual output of industrial diamond accounts for approximately 80% of the world's total output. In recent years, the rapid development of China's cubic press has brought about new development phase of superhard materials. The production costs of diamond declines further and the products' quality and manufacturing techniques are closer to international standards.

Currently, there are two distinctive advantages of China's composite superhard materials industry. Firstly, the industry chain of China's composite superhard materials has formed certain scale that it has local advantages in terms of raw materials purchase. In 1990s, China's diamond output was in the fast-growing phase, with the output hitting 5,400,000,000 carats. In 2011, the annual output was 11,000,000,000 carats. The total output of synthetic diamond took up more than 90% of the global output. Secondly, China possesses lower production costs, which is also an advantage in international diamond markets. With development in technology and improvement in production techniques, hard alloy and high-speed steel are gradually replaced by diamond.

Downstream demand for composite superhard materials takes on a fast increasing trend. Market demand for high-end diamond occupies 60% to 70% of the entire market proportion. After all, global economic recovery and raid and sustainable development of  domestic macro economy will bring more opportunities and potential market for composite superhard materials industry.