The Uddeholm Mirrax 40 business has grown significantly in China since its launch in 2012. This year, the sales group in China plans to sell 125 tons of Uddeholm Mirrax 40. The real breakthrough came when the Qingdao office was able to convince the leading Chinese LCD TV maker that a stainless pre-hardened material would help decrease production time drastically.
Since this breakthrough, word spread of the benefits of Uddeholm Mirrax 40 in China and more local LCD TV end users and mold makers now use Uddeholm Mirrax 40. The benefits the sales team in China continues to promote for Uddeholm Mirrax 40 are: its pre-hardened condition (i.e. cost & time savings with no heat treatment), its stainless features (i.e. less corrosion, reduced downtime for re-polishing), its excellent machine ability in pre-hardned condition and superior polish-ability.
The LCD TV market however, is incredibly competitive and price reductions for final products are often passed on to mold makers and because of this, we have seen a switch in certain cases, to lower end materials. Also, due to the design changes in the LCD market, frames are becoming less important and/or non-existent. Although this trend is taking place, The sales company is finding new opportunities to further develop this unique grade and volumes continue to grow for Uddeholm Mirrax 40 in China.
One reason for the expected growth in home appliances is the trend for more flame retardant materials which require a more corrosive resistant material. Another trend in home appliances is to have higher quality transparent parts where again the Qingdao office has successfully promoted Uddeholm Mirrax 40 for vegetable drawers to the World’s largest white good company, Haier, as they continually look to upgrade their product range.
We have also seen that for certain electronic components which demand shorter production series, Uddeholm Mirrax 40 gives the mold user/maker an optimal grade.
