Rise of Domestic Powder Steel | Tiangong International's Powder Steel Selected as the No. 1 Domestic Material on the Future Potential List

Recently, the “2026 Ultimate Knife Steel Ranking,” widely circulated in the knife community, was officially released. The ranking comprehensively reviews and grades mainstream knife steels worldwide across five dimensions: overall steel performance, industry status, collectible value, industry recognition, and future potential. Tiangong’s self-developed new-generation high-performance powder steel was selected as the No. 1 domestic material on the Future Potential list, making it a leader in domestic powder steel and a main force in domestic powder high-speed steel.

Relying on its mature gas-atomization powder metallurgy production line, Tiangong International’s TPMD41A and TPMD41B powder stainless steels are benchmarked against international benchmark steels M390 and Magnacut. On the basis of excellent edge retention and good corrosion and rust resistance, they achieve superior impact toughness, marking that domestic high-end knife powder steel has officially entered the international first tier and providing domestic high-end kitchen knife and EDC knife brands with stable domestically sourced material solutions.

Comparison of Mid-to-High-End Characteristics of Global Knife Materials

In the ranking’s profiles of domestic knife steel mills, Tiangong International is labeled a “main force in domestic powder high-speed steel,” with M390 as a benchmark reference. As a leading domestic special materials enterprise, Tiangong International has been deeply engaged in the R&D of powder metallurgy materials for many years and is the earliest domestic enterprise to achieve mass production of high-end powder steel. Tiangong focuses on the R&D, production, and industrialization of powder steel for high-end knives, breaking the long-term monopoly of overseas high-end knife steel.

For a long time, imported powder steels such as M390 and Elmax have occupied the mainstream of the high-end knife market, with high prices and limited supply lead times. Tiangong International has stepped up efforts in domestic powder steel, creating powder steel products benchmarked against first-tier international grades and providing domestic knife manufacturers with cost-effective domestic high-end raw material options. 

At the same time, in the Domestic Steel Strength Ranking released with the list, several Tiangong-series domestic knife steels also secured places, with products covering entry-level to high-end markets and forming a relatively complete knife steel material portfolio. Tiangong International has made a forward-looking layout in the powder steel field, precisely aligning with the industry trends of technological upgrading and localization of high-end materials. Currently, Tiangong International has achieved localized mass production of benchmarked equivalents for multiple high-end knife steels, covering high-end powder steel systems such as Magnacut, S110V, S90V, M390, CPM-20CV, CTS-204P, Elmax, HAP40, S35VN, and S30V, which benchmark against comparable products from the United States, Japan, Austria, and other countries, continuously enhancing the technical strength and market competitiveness of domestic high-end knife steel. 

Industry analysis points out that in the past, the high-end knife steel market was long dominated by European, American, and Japanese steel mills. Domestic steel mills represented by Tiangong International have continued to increase R&D investment, and domestic powder steel has made continuous breakthroughs in core indicators such as wear resistance, rust prevention, and toughness, gradually narrowing the gap with top international steels. This inclusion in the popular knife steel potential ranking is both recognition from the knife enthusiast market and evidence of the rise of domestic special steel. In the future, as domestic enterprises such as Tiangong continue to iterate powder metallurgy technology, domestic high-end knife steel will further expand market share and help the domestic knife industry achieve high-quality development.