April 21, 2026 Industry News
Currently, China's precision casting industry is in a critical window period of technological iteration and structural transformation. Driven by the continuous demand from fields such as high-end equipment, new energy vehicles, aerospace, and petroleum machinery, the industry has achieved multiple technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading with intelligent manufacturing, green low-carbon, high precision and high efficiency as the core directions, and has generally entered the fast track of high-quality development.
According to the latest industry data, the annual output value of China's precision casting industry has exceeded 100 billion yuan, of which investment casting accounts for more than 70%, becoming the core process support for high-end parts manufacturing. At the 18th Annual Meeting of the Precision Casting Branch of China Foundry Association, the industry clearly listed "digital transformation, material technology innovation, precise defect control, and full-process green production" as the core development tasks in the next three years, promoting the industry's transformation from "scale expansion" to "technological deep cultivation".
In terms of technological innovation, major breakthroughs have been made in ultra-thin near-net-shape technology. It can stably produce precision castings with a wall thickness of only 0.8mm, with a dimensional accuracy of CT5 level, a surface roughness of Ra≤1.2μm, and a material utilization rate of more than 95%, which greatly reduces the subsequent machining allowance and effectively meets the miniaturization and lightweight needs of high-end parts.
Metallurgical and forming processes have been continuously optimized, and the adaptability to high-end materials has been significantly enhanced. The smelting and pouring processes of stainless steel microalloying, duplex steel, high-temperature alloys, and wear-resistant alloy steels such as KmTBCr26 are mature. Vacuum smelting, precise temperature control, and efficient degassing and slag removal technologies are popularized, which effectively solve the industry's persistent problems such as shrinkage porosity, slag inclusion, and air holes, and the batch qualified rate is stably maintained above 95%. The application of new processes such as Hydraulic Extrusion Casting (HFC) has increased the density of castings by 30%, greatly optimized the mechanical properties and fatigue life, and met the high strength and toughness requirements of core components such as new energy electric drives and aero-engines.
The acceleration of intelligent and green transformation, full-process automation has become the industry standard. Robot automatic shell-making production lines, AGV intelligent transportation, and digital process monitoring systems are widely used. The full-process intelligent transformation from shell making, smelting, pouring to post-processing and testing has achieved a 40% increase in production efficiency and a 30% reduction in labor costs. At the same time, the industry has vigorously promoted green technologies such as waste wax recycling, waste sand regeneration, and flue gas purification. Energy consumption and pollutant emissions have decreased by more than 25% compared with five years ago, which is in line with the sustainable development requirements under the "dual carbon" goal.
The testing system and standards have been fully upgraded to ensure access to the high-end market. The coverage rate of high-precision testing equipment such as spectrometers, Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMM), X-ray flaw detection, and metallographic microscopes exceeds 80%. Quality system certifications such as ISO 9001, IATF 16949, and AS9100 are popularized. The overall testing accuracy and process control capabilities of the industry have reached the international advanced level, laying a foundation for entering high-end supply chains such as automotive, aerospace, medical, and petroleum.
Industry experts said that with the rapid development of new energy and high-end equipment manufacturing, the precision casting industry will continue to focus on the four core technological directions of ultra-thin wall, high precision, complex structure, and special materials, strengthen intelligent manufacturing and green production capabilities, further enhance international competitiveness, and become a key supporting force for China's manufacturing transformation towards high-end.