Global Views on Hardware Headlines

Fastener Industry Up 5% Per Year Through 2007

Industrial fastener demand, usually dancing with the pace of industrialization and business circle of the world, is predicted to climb no less than 5% every year through 2007 to over $11 billion. Generally speaking, the demand will be spurred by robust growth in durable goods production and building spending. Accelerating global economic growth will also contribute to help speed in aftermarket fastener demand, even though improvements in fastener quality will somewhat curb maintenance/ repair /operations sales growth. Building sector, electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing will enjoy the fastest growth in end-use markets for fasteners.
Standardized industrial fasteners will continue to govern overall product demand. However the sales of application-specific fasteners jump at a prompter pace than other standardized product types while more OEMs take the place of non-specialized items with application-specific designs. In the other hand, demand for aerospace-grade fasteners is predicted to soar at better-than-expected rate through 2007, fueled by new momentum in aircraft production as global economic climate bodes well military expenditures keep climbing. Recently, innovations and improvement on fastener design focus on new generations of self-locking and self-sealing fasteners, which can be installed without the use of tools and fasteners fabricated from advanced alloys, composites and plastic materials. As more reinforced plastics are successfully developed and launched, plastic fasteners will be widely applied in a growing number of settings.

Global Valve Demands to Rise 5.5% Through 2007

Global demand for industrial valves is predicted to climb 5.5% per year through 2007 to over US$60 billion. The growth momentum is specially attributed to the blooming macroeconomic growth in the developing regions of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The markets in the US, Japan and Western Europe, although not very prominent in performing, will also show slight improvement. Rising fixed investment levels will boost most valve consuming sectors and strengthen underdeveloped infrastructures in these regions.

Die-casting Hardware Boosted from Auto Sector

Die-casting is a process to form metal shapes from molten material, in most cases, typically nonferrous metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and zinc. Die-casting processes include sand casting, precision investment (lost wax) casting, and permanent mold casting. Generally speaking, the major market for die-casting is the automotive industry. Especially smaller electric motors calling for the application of die cast aluminum housings and end covers, further promote the usage of die-castings. Additionally, for further development of the die casting industry, production scale is of prime importance for industry players. However, the prerequisite for a large production size is large investment. The automotive industry is surely a strong support. In recent years, attention has been paid to the development of large capacity die casting machines, bringing up hot chamber machines accordingly.

Variety Uses of P/M, Powder Metallurgy

The basic P/M process uses pressure and heat to form precision metal parts and shapes. Powder is squeezed at room temperature by itself in a rigid precision die into an engineered shape like a gear. After the mass of powder is squeezed into a shape and ejected from the press, it is fed slowly through a special high-temperature controlled atmosphere furnace to bond the particles together. In contrast to other metal forming techniques, P/M parts are shaped directly from powders while castings are formed from metal that must be melted, and wrought parts are shaped by deformation of hot or cold metal, or by machining. P/M parts are used in a variety of end products such as lock hardware, garden tractors, snowmobiles, automobile engines and transmissions, auto brake and steering systems, etc. New Developments include improved manufacturing processes and commercialization such as metal injection molding: (MIM), rapid solidification, P/M forging, spray forming, high temperature vacuum sintering, warm compacting and both cold and hot isostatic pressing. The use of P/M hot forged connecting rods in automobiles and a P/M camshaft for automobile engines. The use of P/M composite camshafts in auto engines and main bearing caps, and stainless steel ABS sensor rings and exhaust system flanges. New submicron and nanophase powders for cutting tools and other specialized applications.

Bearings, Small Parts Big Use

Bearings belong to a major component in a machine to reduce friction and, simultaneously maintain the expected precision and stability while machine working. By statistics, the size of global bearing market approximates US$30 billion every year. Coming in over ten thousand kinds, bearings can be found everywhere in a gear from small drivers, motor cars, conveyors, electrical machinery to big ships. Fundamentally, bearings are composed of two parts: sliding bearings and rolling bearings. The most frequent-used bearings are linear bearings, connecting bearings, ball bearings, roller bearings, trust bearings and needle bearings. The precision quality of bearings depends on hardness, wear rate, mechanic strength and stability along with concentricity, sphericalness and roughness. In these years, the users of conventional ball bearings and roller bearings have been gradually upgraded to ball guide bars, linear bearings, connecting bearings and oil-less bushings. Some higher-level bearings should resort to the help of technicians. King-size bearings for steel-making or petrochemical industry are heavily installed and traced by technical suppliers. The popularity of NC/ CNC machine tools and automated warehouse systems provides a stable-growing background for bearings industry. The up-and-coming trends follow the advantages of high precision, high speed, compact size, lightweight, maintenance-free and durability.

Article from ttnet.net