1. Countries around the world continue to introduce new material industry policies and seize the commanding heights one after another
In the 21st century, all countries in the world, especially developed countries, attach great importance to the development of new material industry, and have formulated corresponding new material development strategies and research plans. Since the financial crisis in 2008, developed countries have launched "re-industrialization" strategies one after another, taking manufacturing as an important starting point for returning to the real economy and seizing the commanding heights of a new round of international technological and economic competition. As the cornerstone of the manufacturing industry, materials are increasingly playing a strategic role. In addition, major developed countries have issued special policies for key areas of new materials, such as high-temperature alloys, carbon fiber and composite materials, new display materials, new energy materials, third-generation semiconductor materials, new rare earth materials, graphene, etc.
2. The scale of the industry continues to expand, and regional differences are becoming more and more obvious
With the rapid development of the global high-tech industry and the continuous upgrading of the manufacturing industry, as well as the continuous advancement of sustainable development, the products, technologies and models of new materials are constantly updated, the application fields are continuously expanded, and the market prospect is broader. The demand for new materials Very prosperous, and the scale of the industry continues to grow. According to statistics, the global market for new materials exceeded US$400 billion in 2010, US$2.3 trillion in 2017, and US$2.82 trillion in 2019, growing at an annual rate of more than 10%.
The world's leading new material companies are mainly concentrated in the United States, Europe and Japan, owning most of the large multinational companies in the world, occupying absolute advantages in economic strength, core technology, R&D capabilities, market share, etc., forming a monopoly in the global market. China, South Korea, and Russia follow closely behind and belong to the second echelon. Among them, China has strong competitiveness in the fields of semiconductor lighting, rare earth permanent magnets, and artificial crystal materials. Except for a few countries such as Brazil and India, the new material industry in most developing countries is relatively backward.
3. Market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and key materials have become the focus
Information technology is an important engine for the recovery of the current world economy and for promoting the future industrial revolution. The development level of informatization mainly depends on photoelectric information functional materials, and its mainstream is still semiconductor materials. In addition, wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide, silicon carbide and gallium nitride will also make important contributions to optical fiber communication and the Internet. Developed countries such as the United States occupy a dominant position in the field of key materials such as electronic information.
4. Intensive and clustered development, intensified monopoly of high-end materials
With the acceleration of global economic integration, intensification, clustering and high efficiency have become prominent features of the development of the new material industry. The new material industry is expanding horizontally and vertically, the connection between upstream and downstream industries is getting closer, the industrial chain is becoming more and more perfect, the multi-disciplinary and multi-departmental cooperation is further strengthened, and a new industrial alliance is formed, which is conducive to product development and application, but it is also easy form a market monopoly. Relying on the advantages of technology research and development, capital, and talents, large multinational companies have occupied a dominant position in most high-tech and high value-added new material products with technology and patents as barriers. International new material enterprises present the development trend of collectivization, oligopoly and internationalization. For example, five companies from Japan and Germany account for more than 80% of the international market sales of semiconductor silicon materials.
1. Cross-integration of new technologies and new materials to accelerate innovation
Since the 21st century, major adjustments have taken place in the competition pattern of the global new material industry, the interdisciplinary integration of new materials, information, energy, and biology has continued to deepen, and technologies such as big data and digital simulation have played an increasingly prominent role in the R&D and design of new materials. "Internet + ", Materials Genome Project, additive manufacturing and other new technologies and models are booming, the pace of new material innovation continues to accelerate, new technology updates and iterations are accelerating, new ideas, new ideas, and new products emerge one after another, and international market competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
Breakthroughs in basic disciplines, multi-disciplinary interdisciplinary, and multi-technology integration rapidly promote the creation of new materials, the discovery of new functions, and the improvement of the performance of traditional materials. The research and development of new materials increasingly relies on multi-disciplinary cooperation. For example: a major breakthrough in solid-state physics led to the emergence of a series of topological materials; the deep integration of materials and physics gave birth to high-temperature superconducting materials; the development of high-density, low-power, and non-volatile memory technology is a model of multi-disciplinary cooperation; Scientists proposed four new storage concepts: resistance change, phase change, magnetic tunnel junction and charge trapping. Material scientists found suitable materials to realize corresponding functions. Microelectronics experts designed corresponding circuits to ensure the writing and reading of storage signals. and erase.
The emergence of a series of new methods of material design represented by material genetic engineering constantly breaks through the limitations of existing ideas and methods, with technologies such as high-throughput computing, high-throughput preparation, high-throughput Support, based on grasping the relationship between material composition-atomic arrangement-phase-microstructure-material performance-environmental parameters-service life, promote major changes in the research and development, design, manufacturing and application of new materials, and greatly reduce the research and development of new materials Cycle and R&D costs, accelerating the innovation process of new materials.
2. Greening, low-carbonization and intelligentization
Since the beginning of the 21st century, in the face of increasingly serious resource depletion, deteriorating ecological environment and greatly increasing per capita demand and other development difficulties, the concepts of green development and sustainable development have become the consensus of mankind. The carrying capacity of resources, energy, and the environment on material production, application, and failure, and the green and efficient acquisition, utilization, recycling, and replacement of strategic elements have received unprecedented attention.
The rise of emerging industries represented by new energy will cause major changes and deep fissions in multiple industries such as electric power, IT, construction, automobiles, and communications, and will drive a series of upstream industries (such as fan manufacturing, photovoltaic modules, and polysilicon deep processing) The development of processing manufacturing and resource processing industries), promote the development and development of smart grids, electric vehicles and other transportation and terminal products, and promote the development of energy-saving buildings and photovoltaic power generation buildings. Developed countries such as Europe and the United States have passed legislation requiring or encouraging the use of low-emissivity (Low-e) and other energy-saving glass. At present, 80% of insulating glass in Europe is Low-e glass, and the penetration rate of Low-e insulating glass in the United States is 82%. Short process, less pollution, low energy consumption, green production and manufacturing, resource conservation and material recycling are the inevitable choices for the new material industry to meet the sustainable development of the economy and society.
With the rapid development of new-generation information technology and Internet technology such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, as well as the application of new perception technology and automation technology, advanced manufacturing technology is developing in the direction of intelligence. Intelligent manufacturing equipment is based on CNC equipment. A number of intelligent control software and modules are integrated on it, so that the manufacturing process can adapt to changes in the manufacturing environment and manufacturing process to achieve optimization, thereby realizing automatic optimization of the process. Supporting materials for next-generation manufacturing equipment that have the functions of perception, analysis, reasoning, decision-making, and control to achieve high efficiency, high quality, energy saving, environmental protection, and safe and reliable production are urgently needed for the development of the future material industry.
3. New material technology is increasingly improving the quality of human life
With the continuous extension of new material research technology, many emerging industries that are closely related to the improvement of human living standards have emerged. The development of compound semiconductor materials such as gallium nitride has given birth to semiconductor lighting technology; proton membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) have been used in traffic demonstration operations, promoting the development of the new energy vehicle industry. The application of biomedical materials has significantly reduced the mortality rate of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer and other diseases and major trauma, greatly improved the health level and quality of life of human beings, and is an important material basis for ensuring the basic needs of national medical care and developing health services. The development of clinical diagnostic materials and devices based on molecules and genes has enabled the early detection and treatment of major diseases such as liver cancer; the research and development of interventional devices such as vascular stents has given birth to minimally invasive and interventional treatment technologies; biologically active substances (such as drugs, proteins, genes, etc.) etc.) targeted/intelligent controlled-release system and the development of its carrier materials not only lead to revolutionary changes in traditional drug delivery methods, but also open up new opportunities for the treatment of refractory diseases such as congenital genetic defects, senile diseases, and way.