Industry News

Mudanjiang’s boron carbide powder materials account for 40% of the international market share.

In recent years, Mudanjiang City has vigorously developed its new materials industry, which has now reached a considerable scale: there are 48 enterprises above designated size, accounting for approximately 7% of the city’s industrial sector. Its product portfolio primarily encompasses four major categories—hard materials, specialty fibers and composite materials, novel chemical raw materials, and advanced building functional materials. Mudanjiang boasts abundant mineral resources, with 80 distinct types of minerals currently identified and 41 of them having proven reserves, representing 47.1% of Heilongjiang Province’s total and 17.5% of China’s national total. The region is rich in energy resources such as coal and oil shale, as well as metallic resources including iron, copper, and gold, alongside non-metallic resources like graphite, sillimanite, wollastonite, calcite, quartz sand, refractory clay, basalt, granite, perlite, pumice, volcanic ash, and marble. Through sustained development in recent years, Mudanjiang’s new materials industry has diversified from a single product—boron carbide—to encompass dozens of varieties, including silicon carbide, boron carbide, industrial silicon, and specialized ceramic materials and finished products. Boron carbide powder accounts for 40% of the global market and 80% of the domestic market; 80% of its industrial finished products are exported, capturing 15% of the international market and 80% of the domestic market. Mudanjiang stands as the world’s largest export hub for green silicon carbide powder, with annual exports exceeding 20,000 tons, representing 60% of the global market. The Mudanjiang Special Materials Industrial Base has been recognized as a National High-Tech Industrialization Base, one of three such bases in Heilongjiang Province. Furthermore, Mudanjiang is a key production center for graphite within the province, with proven graphite ore reserves totaling 240 million tons, and plans underway during the 13th Five-Year Plan period to establish three advanced graphite processing projects. Mudanjiang has also actively promoted research and development in new materials, earning designation by the Ministry of Science and Technology as a national base for special materials under the “863 Program.” Jin Gang Zuan Boron Carbide Co., Ltd. operates a postdoctoral research station and a provincial-level enterprise technology center, while Chenxi Boron Carbide Co., Ltd. has established an industry–university–research consortium with the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The city is home to several R&D institutions, including the Provincial Paper Industry Research Institute and the Hard Alloy Research Institute. Meanwhile, Mudanjiang Normal University hosts a provincial key laboratory focusing on novel carbon-based functional and ultra-hard materials, staffed by 33 doctoral and master’s degree holders, undertaking 25 scientific research projects at or above the provincial and ministerial levels, and holding three national patents. The lab primarily conducts applied research on diamond films and related materials, low-dimensional materials, and electronic functional materials.

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