1. Introduction to new materials
New materials refer to structural materials with excellent properties and functional materials with special properties that have been recently developed or are being developed. Structural materials mainly utilize their strength, toughness, hardness, elasticity and other mechanical properties, such as new ceramic materials, amorphous alloys (metallic glass), etc.; functional materials mainly utilize their electrical, optical, acoustic, magnetic, thermal and other functions and physical effects.
New materials are the material basis for human survival. The emergence and application of each new material will be accompanied by a huge leap in modern science and technology. It can be seen from the history of modern science and technology that every major scientific and technological breakthrough depends to a large extent on the development of corresponding new materials. Therefore, new materials are the basis for the development of modern science and technology, and new material technology is called the "mother of invention" and "industrial food".
2. Classification of new materials
At present, my country is focusing on the development of three major categories of new materials, including advanced basic materials, key strategic materials and cutting-edge new materials. Each of these major categories includes new materials in specific subdivisions, with a wide range.
Schematic diagram of new material classification
3. New materials industry chain
After years of development, China's new materials industry has formed a mature industrial chain in many subdivisions. At the same time, a number of outstanding new materials leading companies have emerged to jointly promote the development of China's new materials industry.
In the new materials industry chain, the upstream is metal raw materials, alloys, chemical fibers, ceramics, plastics, bio-based, resin, graphite and other raw materials; the midstream is new material manufacturing, mainly including graphene materials, superconducting materials, 3D printing materials, intelligent bionics and metamaterials, nanomaterials, biomedical materials and liquid metals, etc.; the downstream is application fields, and cutting-edge new materials are widely used in electronics, automobiles, new energy, medical, aerospace and other fields.
Schematic diagram of new materials industry chain
4. New Materials Industry Policy Documents
Our country attaches great importance to the development of the new materials industry. Currently, it has built a policy pyramid for the development of new materials through programmatic documents, guiding documents, planned development goals and tasks, etc., to provide comprehensive guidance for the entire industry chain. In recent years, relevant national departments have formulated a number of relevant policies to encourage innovative development in the field of new materials. The introduction of relevant policies and measures such as "Made in China 2025" and the "14th Five-Year Strategic Emerging Industries Development Plan" demonstrate the country's determination to vigorously develop the new materials industry and solve the "stuck" problem of key materials. In addition, the "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly points out the need to promote breakthroughs in the downstream application fields of many new metal functional materials such as high-quality special steels, high-performance alloys, and high-temperature alloys in my country. Under the guidance of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the new materials industry will further develop, and relevant policies will promote the domestic new materials industry to enter a "high-precision" development track.
5. Market Scale of New Materials Industry
With the continuous development of front-end technology in various modern fields, the development and progress of new materials have significantly promoted production technology in various fields. Data show that the market size of my country's new materials industry has increased from 2.3 trillion yuan in 2016 to 4.5 trillion yuan in 2019. By 2022, the market size of my country's new materials industry will have reached 8 trillion yuan. In the future, our country will accelerate the development of strategic emerging industries such as new generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy and new energy vehicles, and implement major projects of national economy and national defense construction. It will need the support and guarantee of the new materials industry, which will provide a broad market space for the development of the new materials industry.
Market size statistics of China's new materials industry from 2017 to 2022
6. Development trends of my country’s new materials industry
China's new materials industry maintains a good momentum of development, but China's independent innovation capability is not strong. There are problems in industrial development such as unreasonable product structure, key technologies being controlled by others, and weak competitiveness in the international market. With the rapid development of new generation information technology, new energy, high-end equipment manufacturing and other application fields and the steady advancement of basic materials research and technological innovation, China's new materials industry has gained momentum. It is expected that the total industrial output value will reach 10 trillion in 2025, with an average annual compound growth rate of 13.5%.
However, China is still a material power rather than a material power, and its independent innovation capability is not strong. According to the survey results of more than 130 key basic materials from more than 30 large enterprises across the country, in the layout of China's new materials industry, 32% of China's key materials fields are blank markets and 52% are dependent on imports. In addition, 95% of the manufacturing and testing equipment used for high-end CNC machine tools, high-end equipment and instruments, launch vehicles, large aircraft, aero engines, automobile engines and key components rely on imports, 95% of high-end special chips used for general-purpose processors, and more than 70% of intelligent terminal processors rely on imports.
Source: Xuzhou New Materials Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University
