The C919 Test Flight Was Successfully Completed, And The Titanium Industry Chain Has A Broad Market Prospect

The C919 large passenger aircraft has successfully completed all six test flights and is now taking a major step towards certification. This is a crucial milestone in the development of the aircraft and a significant victory for the project.

The C919 is a large, domestically-produced, jet-powered passenger aircraft with independent intellectual property rights. Currently, the project has 28 customers and 815 orders. By 2040, it is estimated that China will add an average of 418 aircraft per year, including 312 single-aisle aircraft. Assuming a domestic market share of 13%, the average annual sales of the C919 are estimated to be about 679.1 billion yuan.

With the continuous improvement of China's aviation industry technology, the entire industry chain of large aircraft is expected to drive the manufacturing industry towards higher levels of development, creating enormous opportunities for growth.

Titanium alloy is widely used in the aircraft body and engine and is the most localized advanced material on the C919 compared to other major aviation metals such as aluminum and nickel. Titanium is the only material widely used in both the aircraft body and engine due to its excellent strength, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, elasticity, and formability.

Additionally, because titanium has a similar electrode potential to carbon fiber composites, it is also the only connecting material used in composite materials. Titanium alloy was extensively used in various parts of the C919, including the front fuselage pressure plate, nose skin, hanging central wing edge, tail wing junction, wing slide, etc.

The total amount of titanium alloy used reached 93% of the structural weight of the aircraft. The C919 selected six titanium alloy grades, including low strength/high ductility, medium strength/medium toughness, medium-high strength/high toughness, high strength/high toughness, and system-use materials such as forgings, thick plates, thin plates, profiles, pipes, and wires.

Furthermore, titanium alloy is the most localized advanced material on the C919, and both Baoti Group and Baosteel have their materials used in large aircraft. Western Superconductor's Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy has also passed COMAC's qualification certification.

The titanium material used in the C919 is approximately 392 tons, and assuming that 1,200 C919s will be manufactured in the next 20 years without considering the loss rate, it is expected to bring about 4,700 tons of demand for aviation titanium alloy, indicating a vast market space.