Beryllium is a sensitive metal of great concern to major military powers in the world. After more than 50 years of independent development, my country’s beryllium industry has basically formed a complete industrial system. In the beryllium industry, the metal beryllium is the least used but the most important. It has key applications in the fields of national defense, aerospace and strategic nuclear energy. It is a strategic and key resource related to national security; The largest amount is beryllium copper alloy, which is widely used in industrial fields. The United States embargoes pure beryllium and beryllium copper master alloys to China. Beryllium copper alloy is a non-ferrous alloy elastic material with excellent comprehensive properties, known as the “king of elasticity”, with high strength, high hardness, corrosion resistance, high electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity, fatigue resistance, corrosion resistance, elasticity It has excellent performance such as small hysteresis, non-magnetic, and no sparks when impacted. Therefore, the main application of beryllium is beryllium copper alloy, and it is estimated that 65% of beryllium in the market is in the form of beryllium copper alloy.

1. Overview of foreign beryllium industry

At present, only the United States, Kazakhstan and China have a complete industrial system of beryllium from beryllium ore mining, extraction metallurgy to beryllium metal and alloy processing on an industrial scale. The beryllium industry in the United States is the largest in the world, representing the world’s production technology level of beryllium, and has an absolute advantage in the world beryllium industry, leading and leading. The United States controls the global trade in the beryllium industry by supplying beryllium raw, semi-finished, and finished products to many beryllium product manufacturers around the world, both in the United States and abroad. Japan is limited by the lack of beryllium ore resources and does not have the capacity of the whole industry chain, but it has advanced technology in secondary processing and plays an important role in the global beryllium industry.
American Materion (formerly Brash Wellman) is the only integrated manufacturer in the world that can produce all beryllium products. There are two main subsidiaries. One subsidiary produces beryllium alloys in the industrial field, beryllium copper alloy plates, strips, wires, tubes, rods, etc.; and optical-grade beryllium materials, as well as high-value beryllium-aluminum alloys for aerospace applications. NGK Corporation is the second largest beryllium copper manufacturer in the world, formerly known as NGK Metal Corporation. Began producing beryllium copper alloys in 1958 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NipponGaishi Co., Ltd. (NipponGaishi). In 1986, Nippon Insulator Co., Ltd. purchased the beryllium copper branch of Cabot Corporation of the United States and changed its name to NGK, thus forming a situation to compete with Materion Corporation of the United States in the field of beryllium copper. Obstruction Metals is the world’s largest importer of beryllium oxide (the main import sources are Materion in the United States and the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Kazakhstan). NGK’s annual production capacity of beryllium copper is estimated to be more than 6,000 tons. The Urba Metallurgical Plant is the only beryllium smelting and processing plant in the former Soviet Union and is now part of Kazakhstan. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the production of beryllium at the Urba Metallurgical Plant was highly secret and little known. In 2000, the Ulba Metallurgical Plant received a US$25 million investment from the American company Materion. Materion provided the Ulba Metallurgical Plant with beryllium production funds for the first two years, and updated its equipment and provided some new technologies. In return, The Urba Metallurgical Plant exclusively supplies beryllium products to Materion, mainly including metallic beryllium ingots and beryllium copper master alloys (supply until 2012). In 2005, Urba Metallurgical Plant completed this 5-year investment plan. The annual production capacity of Urba Metallurgical Plant is 170-190 tons of beryllium products, the annual production capacity of beryllium copper master alloy is 3000 tons, and the annual production capacity of beryllium copper alloy is 3000 tons. The annual production capacity of products reaches 1,000 tons. Wuerba Metallurgical Plant invested and established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Shanghai, China: Wuzhong Metallurgical Products (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., responsible for the import, export, re-export and sales of the company’s beryllium products in China, East Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions. After years of development, Wuzhong Metallurgical Products (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has become one of the most important suppliers of beryllium copper master alloys in China, East Asia and Southeast Asia. In mainland China, it occupied more than 70% of the market share at the peak.

2. General situation of national beryllium industry
After decades of development, China’s beryllium industry has formed a complete industrial system from ore mining, extraction metallurgy to beryllium metal and alloy processing. The main market products currently distributed in the beryllium industry chain include: beryllium compounds, metal beryllium, beryllium alloys, beryllium oxide ceramics and metal beryllium-based composite materials. Major enterprises include state-owned enterprises such as Dongfang Tantalum and Minmetals Beryllium, as well as smaller private enterprises. In 2018, China produced 50 tons of pure beryllium. The United States embargoes the metal beryllium and beryllium copper master alloys to China. The least but the most important in the industrial chain is the metal beryllium. Metal beryllium is mainly used in the fields of national defense, aerospace and strategic resources, and the most critical national defense application is on strategic nuclear missiles. In addition, it also includes satellite frame parts and structural parts, satellite mirror bodies, rocket nozzles, gyroscopes and navigation and weapons control components, electronic packaging, data communication systems and mirror bodies for high-power lasers; nuclear-grade metal beryllium is also used for Research/experimental nuclear fission and fusion reactors. The largest amount in the industry chain is beryllium copper alloy. According to statistics, more than 80% of beryllium hydroxide is used to produce beryllium copper master alloy (4% beryllium content). The mother alloy is diluted with pure copper to produce beryllium-copper alloys with beryllium content of 0.1~2% and various components, including various types of beryllium-copper alloy profiles (bars, strips, plates, wires, pipes), finishing enterprises Use these profiles to process components used in industrial fields such as consumer electronics. The production of beryllium-copper alloy is generally divided into two parts: upstream and downstream. The upstream is ore mining, extraction and smelting into beryllium-containing beryllium-copper master alloy (the content of beryllium is generally 4%); the downstream is the beryllium-copper master alloy as an additive, adding copper Further smelting and processing into beryllium copper alloy profiles (tubes, strips, rods, wires, plates, etc.), each alloy product will be subdivided into different grades due to inability to perform.

3. Summary
In the beryllium copper master alloy market, the production capacity is concentrated in a few companies, and the United States dominates. The production technology threshold of beryllium copper alloy is relatively high, and the entire industry is relatively concentrated. There are only a few suppliers or one super-manufacturer for each subdivided brand or category. Due to the scarcity of resources and leading technology, the US Materion occupies a leading position, Japan’s NGK and Kazakhstan’s Urbakin Metallurgical Plant also have strong strength, and domestic enterprises are completely backward. In the beryllium copper alloy profile market, domestic products are concentrated in the mid-to-low-end field, and there is a large alternative demand and price space in the mid-to-high-end market. Whether it is beryllium-copper alloy or beryllium-copper alloy profiles, domestic enterprises are still in the catching-up stage, and the products are mainly in the low-end market, and the price is often half or even lower than that of the products in the United States and Japan. The reason is still limited by the stability of smelting technology and process. This aspect means that in the case of low domestic production and manufacturing costs, if a certain beryllium copper smelting technology is mastered or integrated, the product is expected to enter the mid-end market with a price advantage. High-purity beryllium (99.99%) and beryllium-copper master alloys are key raw materials banned by the United States from exporting to China.