Tungsten carbide-based industry in Dongguan city has introduced high-level at home and abroad talents. According to the report of Yingmin Li, Chun Li of China News Service, 2019 high-level talents at home and abroad were held on July 24 in Guangdong. The person with ability is from the United States, Singapore, New Zealand, and other countries successfully signed 7 key talent projects, 9 intentions to settle projects of high-tech enterprises, new research and development institutions, and venture capital institutions.

The tungsten market is expected to grow exponentially in the forecasting period. Overall, the increased demand for aircraft and the continuous application of tungsten alloys in the automotive sector will enhance the tungsten market valuation, which is expected to exceed $8.5 billion by 2025.

Due to the continuous demand of users for a wide range of applications, the global tungsten market has diffused from key characteristics of metals, such as corrosion resistance, wear resistance and flexibility. The metal is very important in the production of stellites, super alloys and heavy metal alloys for many parts such as automobiles, aircraft, gamma and X-ray machines, golf clubs, darts and so on. Consumer spending on automobiles, tourism and leisure activities, as well as increased health care services, will inadvertently increase demand for the tungsten market. The expansion of tungsten market will be promoted by factors such as increasing global steel consumption and aircraft production.

Airbus said in its forecast that the future of the aviation industry is very optimistic and that more than 37,400 new freight and passenger aircraft will be needed in the next 20 years. These aircraft, worth nearly $5.8 trillion, represent the global growth of tourism and the rich prospects of the tungsten market and other ancillary market segments. The same report also pointed out that, despite any external factors affecting the aerospace sector, air traffic has increased over the past two decades and is expected to almost double in the next 15 years or so. Global gross domestic product (GDP) is considered a prominent indicator of expanding aviation growth. It is expected that 50% of air traffic growth will be triggered in the Asia-Pacific region, while the United States and Europe will together account for 30% of the growth.

To demonstrate the growing demand for aircraft, Boeing signed an agreement in November 2018 to sell about 300 aircraft to China, worth $37 billion, mostly for fleet growth. Similar contracts between airlines and global aircraft manufacturers will bring huge returns to the tungsten market. In addition to strengthening the review of aircraft performance and component quality, the tightening of international standards will affect the development of tungsten market.

Geoscience BC, a geosciences research and data company in British Columbia, Canada, has some ideas on how to increase the supply of rare earth elements (REE): coal deposits and coal tailings facilities.

Geoscience BC has neither released information on its project financial investment nor how long its work will take. However, officials did say that BC coal bed may be a viable source of these elements, so its research will include characterization and quantification of REE and its extraction possibilities.

During the "Characterization and Extraction of Rare Earth Elements in East Kootenay Coalfield-REE BC Coal Project", the team will examine the samples, complete the characterization stage, and then test the potential extraction process on a laboratory scale.

The researchers added that in the first stage, they would develop a REE database, and they would prepare samples; in the second stage, they would go into the testing part of advanced characterization.

"With the advent of clean energy and defense technologies, the consumption of rare earth elements has increased rapidly," said Maria Holuszko, project leader.

"Traditional rare earth deposits are being rapidly depleted and are expected to meet demand only in the next 15 to 20 years," she said.

London, July 23, 2019/AP-PR Newswire/Frost & Sullivan's latest analysis, Global Rare Earth Material Market, forecasts that by 2025, global growth in infrastructure development and e-Car demand is the key factor driving global growth of 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in rare earth materials. In China, Japan, Korea, the United States, Brazil and Western Europe, the demand for neodymium magnets, lanthanum and cerium based applications has increased, and the need for rare earth materials in metallurgical and battery applications has increased. Frost & Sullivan expects the market to grow at a strong CAGR of 7.0% from 2018 to 2025.

"There is a great demand for rare earth materials, especially for the production of high-end permanent magnets. The demand is characterized by niche requirements - high purity, professional rare earth material products, with extremely personalized application characteristics. The electronics, technology and automotive industries prefer these products, even if they are expensive to purchase," said Ganesh Dabholkar, senior analyst, chemicals & materials in infrastructure & mobility.

"Despite significant growth prospects, the rare earth material market is constrained by China's dominant position in reserves, product supply, project investment and consumption," Dabholkar pointed out. "There is an increasing trend in the extraction and use of rare earth materials, as well as in the research of alternative materials, recycling or the search for other low-cost rare earth products, which further hinder the growth of the market."

Researchers in Beijing Institute of Technology are exploring better ways to identify ionic optics by adding materials to make molybdenum components. Their results have recently been published in the paper “3D Printed molybdenum for grids and keeper electrodes in ion thruster”.

The main components of ion thruster are ion optics and protector. Optics plays an important role in the geometry of the engine. However, their erosion limits the life of ion thrusters. The purpose of the protector is to protect the hollow cathode from "ion bombardment" and turn on the cathode discharge. Metals and carbon materials are usually used to make the necessary electrodes. Molybdenum is a metal material commonly used in ion optics and conservative manufacturing.

Among carbon-based materials with near zero thermal expansion coefficients (CTE) and lower sputtering yield than molybdenum, graphite has become a conventional choice because of its low cost and high understanding of its manufacturing methods, although pyrolytic graphite and carbon-carbon composites have been used for many times in ion optical systems mounted on important thrusters, the researchers said.

In order to simplify the manufacture of ion optics system, a study was carried out by Beijing University of Technology, focusing mainly on the 3D printing of molybdenum on the parts of electric propeller. It is successful and still in the development stage. So far, several healthy electrodes have been produced. The researchers chose selective laser melting (SLM) for the project, mainly because of its ability to print metals and, of course, because of the level of accuracy it can provide, especially in aerospace. The commonly used metal materials are titanium, aluminum and stainless steel.

The research project of Beijing Polytechnic University has created several 3D printed ion optics components previously used in titanium to further study the concept of ion optics in the fabrication of additives. Another study measured energy density, involving: laser power; laser scanning speed; hatch spacing; layer thickness.

"The results show that the mechanical and thermal properties of SLM molybdenum are similar to those of solid metals when the energy density applied in the preparation process is close to the maximum energy density, thus producing refractories, i.e. about 300 Jmm-3. This fact is related to the porosity produced, which decreases with the increase of energy density. The researchers concluded. The sputtering corrosion behavior of selective laser melting materials has not been evaluated yet, but it must be studied before the components manufactured by the additives can meet the practical application of electric propulsion.

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

Chinese tungsten prices are unchanged from the previous trading day on persistent weakness in the demand side and uncertain outlook of the market. Most market participants take a watchful stance, waiting for further directions from large tungsten companies and institutions. 

Rare earth market quotation in China: domestic rare earth price

China rare earth prices continue to show a downward trend in the week began on Monday July 15, especially for light rare earth elements. Owing to low trading activity of traders, capital shortage and no significant positive news, prices of light rare earth elements keep declining. Some medium-sized enterprises to sell the stock at low prices, but there are still many large enterprises stabilize the quotation.

China molybdenum prices stabilize but show signs of rise in the week ended on Friday July 26, 2019, thanks to active inquiry under the tightening availability of raw materials and increased demand of ferro molybdenum from steel mills. But both buyers and sellers still remain cautious sentiment. 

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

The ferro tungsten and tungsten carbide powder prices in China are unchanged from the previous trading day on strong rised mentality of traders boosted by new round of environmental protection inspection but relatively low buying appetite of terminal buyers. 

Rare earth market quotation in China: the latest prices of terbium oxide, cerium oxide, dysprosium oxide and lanthanum oxide are still in the downward trend. Light rare earth market remains weak affected by the new round of environmental checks and output cuts of manufacturers. Medium and heavy rare earth market tends to stabilize, but same traders also sell products at low prices with the impact of capital pressure.