Driven by exponentially rising cutting instrument demands from a plethora of manufacturing industries, the global tool steel market, is recently cropping up to be one of the most lucrative vertical of the steel sector. Tool steel – a category of carbon & alloy steels that are optimally suited & widely utilized to make tools that are primarily witness usage in fabrication & perforating, is considerably different from the steel typically used in consumer goods as it is produced on a smaller scale with very strict quality requirements.
U.S. Tool Steel Market Size, By Product class, 2017 & 2024, (Kilo Tons)
The steel finds a significant amount of use in manufacturing tool bits, gear cutters, planers, router bits, punches, taps & drills. Tool steel also delivers a plethora of advantages to cutting instrument manufacturers, ranging from high level thermal conductivity to cheaper machinability & wear resistance while allowing for better quality polishing. Ideal to be deployed across a slew of industrial domains, the product commands massive attention, thereby propelling the commercialization scale of tool steel market. In this regard, it is prudent to mention that one of the most profitable industry verticals that deploys tool steel is the automotive sector.
Worldwide, the automotive industry has been experiencing a revolutionary expansion of sorts, perhaps driven by the escalating demand for automobiles that has stemmed from increasing disposable incomes globally and the norms that have come into play regarding vehicle quality and safety. Speaking of the latter, it is prudent to mention that in vehicle production, elements such as molybdenum, a highly ductile corrosion resistant metal with one of the highest melting points of any pure elements, and chromium, a highly corrosion resistant malleable metal are typically combined with steel to create alloys. These alloys are substantially stronger than their pure counterparts in terms of tensile strength and corrosion & heat resistance to produce vehicle flywheels & clutches among other components.
The chromium & molybdenum tool steel, typically called the chrome-moly steel alloy, is ideal for pivotal automotive applications owing to its superb strength-to-weight ratio and ability to perform in taxing environments while also allowing for better fuel efficiency due to its low weight. These properties have made the alloy a vital part of an automobile’s inner manufacturing profile, thereby carving out a positive growth graph for tool steel market by 2024.
While the alloy is irrefutably beneficial, it is vital to state that molybdenum, all by itself, is also a highly reliable tool steel, as it helps enhance the end-product’s product’s hardening capability, wear resistance, and toughness. The steel is also deployed in cold-work projects like cutting tools – milling cutters, end mills, and automobile cam-rings as well as punches and blanking dies, driving molybdenum-based tool steel market size, slated to register a CAGR of 4% over 2018-2024.
Unveiling U.S. tool steel market trends
The United States has emerged as one of the most proliferating regions of the global tool steel market, given the significance of the aviation industry in the nation. Aerospace manufacturing is considerably unique among other manufacturing sectors. There also exists a high-process risk in terms of machining aerospace parts as the margin for error is nearly non-existent when cruising 35,000 feet above the ground.
Tool steels usually find applications in a number of different regions of an aircraft that are subjected to significantly higher amounts of stress throughout the aircraft’s lifetime. According to a report by Aerospace Manufacturing, chromium tool steel is ideal to be used as rollers & balls of antifriction bearings due to their significant strength & hardness. Moreover, the metal is also used in H11 tool steel bolts as they possess immense resistance to stress, thermal fatigue, impact & gross cracking. These bolts are ideal to be used in landing gears.
Quite overtly, driven by the regional aerospace sector, the U.S. tool steel market is anticipated to accrue quite some proceeds by the end of 2024. In fact, U.S. hot-work tool steel market size is expected to record a CAGR of 4.5% over 2018-2024, powered by the product usage in the expanding regional oil & gas industry.
Unveiling China tool steel market trends
China is another region that is forecast to accumulate substantial returns for the global tool steel market in the years ahead. As the nation experiences escalating air travel demands due to rising disposable incomes, the requirement of tool steel in aerospace manufacturing is bound to surge. Also, the region is privy to government initiatives established to draw in more investment in the country’s aviation sector. As per estimates, China tool steel market share is touted to surpass USD 70 million by 2024.
Attributed to the commendable growth across the developed as well developing economies, the global tool steel market is poised to remain one of the most profitable investment grounds for stakeholders. According to a report by Global Market Insights, Inc., tool steel market size is projected to surpass USD 6.5 billion by 2024.