Antibacterial Stainless Steel Opportunities and Challenges
Antibacterial stainless steel is a “national invention patent” technology developed by the Institute of Metals, Chinese Academy of Sciences for ten years, and has won 5 national invention patents. In 2014, Zhongkepujin succeeded in industrialized trial production and put it into the market. At the same time, the application in the fields of home appliances, bathroom, tableware and other fields has been well received by the market and users. In 2016, the crude steel output of ordinary stainless steel was 26 million tons. With rising consumption demand, the market size of antibacterial stainless steel has exceeded trillions.
The field and status of entrepreneurial projects
The entrepreneurial project belongs to the field of new materials. Due to the widespread use of stainless steel, according to statistics, the amount of stainless steel used in kitchen utensils reached more than 3.5 million tons in 2016. Because antibacterial stainless steel is a new material with integrated structure and function, it has a broad spectrum of antibacterial/sterilization. Therefore, antibacterial stainless steel has a huge alternative space for ordinary stainless steel. Medical equipment, food equipment, bathroom, tableware and other products have strong requirements for antibacterial performance. At the same time, stainless steel is the basic material of these products. Visible market space and prospects. The application and promotion of antibacterial stainless steel has also received attention and support from relevant government departments. In 2016, the industrial application and technological improvement of antibacterial stainless steel was formally approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology as a national key research and development plan (863 project). In 2016, it also won The National Natural Science Foundation of China project approved and supported. Beijing Zhongke Pujin Special Material Technology Development Co., Ltd. was established in October 2013. It has successively obtained certificates and honors such as National High-tech Enterprise, Zhongguancun High-tech Enterprise, China Village Gold Seed Enterprise, Haifan Enterprise, etc., antibacterial stainless steel material, antibacterial stainless steel building water tank, Antibacterial stainless steel PPR conforms to water pipes and other products, and has been awarded the “New Technology (Service) New Product Certificate” by the Beijing Municipal Government. Due to the special service conditions of the product materials and the special requirements for material composition and technology, domestic and international steel companies cannot obtain technical breakthroughs in a short period of time, naturally forming a high technical barrier. Currently in the leading technology at home and abroad.
Pain points of the project
The promotion and application of a new material, the Prime Minister has to go through a long market education and a slow acceptance process by consumers; at the same time, due to the particularity of the material and the different requirements of the manufacturer for the material specifications, the early stage production of materials with sufficient specifications and grades , So the capital investment in early production and promotion is relatively large.
Opportunities for antibacterial stainless steel?
Because stainless steel is corrosion-resistant, beautiful, easy to clean and easy to process. It has been widely used in life. Consumers accept and develop good habits. Consumers also desire antibacterial functions in medical equipment, food equipment, tableware, bathroom and other products. Antibacterial stainless steel has broad-spectrum antibacterial properties and biological safety. It has a lot of room for substitution of ordinary stainless steel. At the same time, due to the influence of batch size, composition, process and other factors, the material cost is only about 15% higher than that of ordinary materials, and the application of the material is almost free from the impact of material prices, which can avoid the homogenization of stainless steel products.
Challenges facing antibacterial stainless steel?
First of all, as the promotion and application of basic materials, the difference in physical properties, the material processing technology needs technical improvement, and a certain amount of technical research and development strength needs to be invested. Secondly, the promotion of household appliances, sanitary ware, medical and other application fields requires long-term and professional cooperation. Thirdly, users have different product specifications and brand requirements. There must be sufficient material production and reserves. In summary, the lack of liquidity in the initial stage of the project has seriously affected the promotion speed.
At present, it is mainly aimed at the substitution and application of stainless steel materials such as household appliances, medical treatment, sanitary ware, food, kitchenware and so on. At the same time, in order to meet consumers’ demand for antibacterial products and their wide application, it produces antibacterial stainless steel products of the free brand (jitai).
In view of the current mature stainless steel production and processing technology, only slight adjustments to the composition and technology are required, and there is no need to upgrade and replace the original production line equipment. At the same time, the cost of mass production of materials only increased by about 15%. The proportion of stainless steel products has not increased much, but it effectively avoids homogenization competition. For example, ordinary stainless steel vacuum flasks, kitchen sinks and other products, materials account for less than 10% of the cost, and after the replacement of antibacterial stainless steel, the material cost increases Minimal.
In the initial stage of the business, the product form is mainly the sales of antibacterial stainless steel materials and the sales and promotion of free-brand antibacterial stainless steel products. With the popularization and development of applications, water storage applications for building water tanks, water pipes, and military ships are gradually being promoted, and medical structures and companies are cooperating to develop high-end medical implant devices and other high value-added products. At the same time, in order to meet medical needs, continue to develop biomedical metal materials with antibacterial functions.
Antibacterial stainless steel is used as a basic material. Factors such as the cycle of technology research and development, equipment, and resource accumulation determine the threshold of competition. Non-professional R&D institutions and enterprises cannot participate in the competition. At present, there are few domestic stainless steel smelting and processing enterprises. Part of it belongs to planned production, and the materials are mostly low-end products such as gross profit, and the company’s own technology investment is insufficient. This project belongs to the research and development of the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for ten years, and has applied for 7 national invention patents, has covered and protected intellectual property rights, and has established strategic cooperative relations with many stainless steel manufacturers.