The US President recently said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had driven up the prices of all the world's major food staples, including wheat, corn, barley, oilseeds and edible oils, and that Russia and Ukraine together supplied more than 25% of the world's wheat exports and about 20% of its barley exports. 

To address the food shortage, the Biden administration says it plans to increase the number of counties eligible for insurance for double cropping. Double cropping is when farmers grow two different crops a year on the same field. 

Under Biden's plan, the number of counties eligible for two-season crop insurance would increase by 681, for a total of 1,935. 

The UN has warned that up to 1.7bn people are "highly exposed" to the domino effect of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on the global food, energy, and financial systems.  The agency says conflict could increase hunger in countries where people are already suffering from malnutrition.

Even countries where food is less scarce are being hit by rising prices. U.S. grocery prices rose 1% in April, compared with a 10.8% increase over the past 12 months, the Labor Department said recently.

According to the White House, global food prices have risen nearly 13 percent since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Besides, affected by the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of international bulk titanium carbide powder are still very uncertain.

We use steel to build houses, parks, and playgrounds. If steel no longer exists, or if we have to build cities on Mars, what materials can replace steel?
 
Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP)
It was first heard in 1940. Fiberglass has no steel in it, but it is very hard: An 8mm thick glass plate cannot be penetrated by a speeding bullet.
To make fiberglass, glass is first melted and drawn into wires. Glass fiber is very elastic and can be spun into cloth. Fiberglass or glass-reinforced plastics are made by pressing layers of glass cloth together and adding heat treatment to a hot-melt plastic.



The mechanical strength of fiberglass is comparable to that of steel, but it weighs only a quarter of that of steel, so it's very light. Moreover, fiberglass does not rust, and does not conduct electricity.
Glass fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) is a new technological material, which is light, beautiful, and strong, and can be used to make car bodies, motorboat hulls, railway carriages, construction materials, etc. The body of a car made of fiberglass weighs just over 150 kilograms. Fiberglass powerboats don't rust and rot, and they can be made into one piece without splicing. If the body of the boat breaks somewhere, just put some adhesive resin around it and put pieces of glass cloth on it.
The use of FRP is more and more extensive. In the military, FRP is used to make light tanks and gunboats, and in sports, FRP is used to make pole vaulting poles and bows for archery. In life, FRP is also used to manufacture furniture and kitchen bath equipment, such as bathtubs, sinks, which are beautiful, light, strong, and durable. 
 
Ceramic
Iron and steel materials have many advantages, but it also has many defects, such as not corrosion resistance, not high-temperature resistance, not being hard enough, and heat insulation. Ceramics make up for these defects.
We all know that ceramics are fragile. After analyzing the composition of ordinary ceramics, scientists believe that one of its main materials, clay containing more impurities, is the source of ordinary ceramics' easy cracking. So, a silver-gray silicon nitride ceramic was made by mixing sand, starch, and zirconia in a nitrogen-filled furnace at 1,400 °C for seven hours.
 


This colorful high-tech ceramic, with almost the same specific weight as aluminum, can withstand high temperatures of more than 1500℃, and has very good toughness, and amazing hardness, only diamond can cut it. Since then, silicon carbide, zirconia, titanium carbide, toughened alumina, and other new ceramic materials have come out.
 
Different high-tech ceramics with different compositions have their own use.
Zirconia ceramics, for example, are particularly resistant to wear, corrosion, and high temperatures. Engine cylinders made of zirconia do not need a cooling system so that the heat generated by fuel combustion in the cylinder can be converted into the power required by the car to the maximum. In addition, the new cylinder is hard, not easy to wear, and the acid gas is formed by the decomposition of fuel oil corrosion. Therefore, this high-tech ceramic automobile engine has a long service life, high power, low manufacturing cost, and can save a lot of metal materials and 30% of the fuel consumption. 
More interesting is that the cutting tool is made of high-tech zirconium-containing ceramics, once the knife body is impacted by external forces and cracks, it will automatically expand, and the cracks will be closed. Zirconia ceramic scissors, the blade is not blunt, rust not crack, known as never scrap "long life scissors". 
 
The development of high and new technology can make ceramic become harder than iron and steel, and also can make it as ductile and plastic as copper, aluminum, and other non-ferrous metals. Titanium oxide ceramics, for example, are ground into extremely fine grains and, with a binder, melted into sheets at high temperatures. Simply heat the sheet to 1809°C and crush it. The result is a wavy ceramic plate. Another calcium fluoride ceramic, even when heated to 80℃, takes on the characteristics of extrusion deformation.
 
Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd. (TRUNNANO) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials, including silicon powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, calcium nitride, 3D printing powder, etc.
If you are looking for high-quality chemical materials, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. ([email protected])
 

China's non-manufacturing purchasing managers index for March was released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the Service Industry Survey Center of the National Bureau of Statistics today. An index of business activity for the non-manufacturing sector as a whole fell below 50 percent. 

 China's non-manufacturing business activity index was 48.4%, down 3.2 percentage points from the previous month. The new orders index was 45.7 percent, down 1.9 percentage points from the previous month, indicating a significant slowdown in the growth of supply and demand in the non-manufacturing sector from the previous month.   In terms of sectors, the business activity index and new order index of transportation, accommodation and catering, culture, sports and entertainment, and tourism-related industries all declined significantly from the previous month. 

Then the titanium carbide powder of the market may be affected by significant changes, the price will also be volatile, if you want to know the latest news of the titanium carbide powder, welcome to contact us. 

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