At present, tungsten steel punches in China can be divided into three categories based on their material and user usage: low, medium, and high. The low-end market mainly consists of molds used by some daily hardware and plastic production enterprises. There are no special requirements for tungsten steel punches, only low prices are sought.
The mid-range market is mainly dominated by domestic medium-sized mold manufacturing enterprises. The requirements for tungsten steel punches are strict, ensuring stable material and moderate price. Domestic tungsten steel punches are basically used, and their price is about one-third of imported tungsten steel punches.
​ The high-end market is dominated by mold manufacturers with foreign investment and exports. The quality requirements for tungsten steel punches are high, with the vast majority being imported products and a small amount using high-quality materials from China. The import price of its tungsten steel punch is about twice as high as that of domestically produced ones.
The high-end market, which dominates the tungsten steel punch market, has so far had very little market share in domestic products. However, this market will be the trend of the development of the domestic mold industry, and the potential market is very large.
According to market research conducted by Gaolue Precision Mold Company, there is indeed a certain gap between domestic tungsten steel punches and foreign ones. The quality cannot meet the general standard ASTMA681 for tungsten steel punches, which is at the international general level. However, the high demands placed on users of high standard tungsten steel punch heads cannot currently be met.
The steel used for plastic molds requires high smoothness surface, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, high thermal conductivity, machinability, polishing, etching performance, etc. The lifespan in China is only half of that in foreign countries. The quality of steel is one of the reasons for this situation.