Carry forward the cause pioneered by our predecessors and forge ahead into the future. The year 2018 is the best year for China's steel industry in the past 10 years, as the quality and efficiency of the industry's operation have steadily increased. The 2019 we are welcoming is the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China. It is also a crucial year for China to deepen the supply-side structural reform, accelerate the construction of a manufacturing power, and promote the realization of high-quality development. As one of the important industries supporting the high-quality development of the country, the iron and steel industry should also deepen the supply-side structural reforms, make strategic changes in the direction of green, intelligent and high-quality production, and realize innovation-driven development, and technology-led the future.
Innovation helps the development of green technology
Green development is the only way for the development of the steel industry. To achieve green development, it is necessary to carry out full process control, and focus on the following aspects: The first is material design. Strengthen innovation of key common process technologies to realize real "reduction in quantity, low cost and high performance" in the development of materials and products. The second is governance of the source. Implement the fine material policy, rely on innovative mineral processing technology, move forward the main window of improving the cleanliness of raw materials, improve the quality of pig iron, and reduce the follow-up cost. The third is the production process. It is necessary to innovate in every process and replace it with a green production method to achieve green production of the whole process of the steel industry. For example: researching on low-carbon blast furnace iron-making and non-blast furnace iron-making technology, paying attention to research on scrap steel utilization and electric arc furnace steelmaking, focusing on the development of defect-free billet continuous casting technology and high-speed continuous casting technology, direct casting of continuous casting billet and continuous headless rolling technology, applying and developing acid-free hot-dip galvanizing technology and cold-rolled strip rapid heat treatment and hot-dip galvanizing technology.
Innovation promotes intelligent upgrade of equipments
The steel industry is an industry with the strongest demand for intelligence. At present, the intelligent control and coordination optimization of the whole process integration have not yet been formed. The steel industry is a process industry. The core task of intelligent manufacturing is to establish a virtual mapping with sufficient accuracy for CPS (Information Physics System). However, the main production processes of blast furnace, converter, refining furnace, ladle, continuous casting billet, hot-rolled rolling stock and cold-rolled rolling stock are all “black boxes”. The production status and parameters cannot be measured online in real time. The forecast accuracy of current mechanism or physical model adopted is limited and is difficult to further improve through traditional methods. To solve this problem, it is necessary to resort to technological innovation. The new concept of "digital perception" provides us with new ideas and feasible methods to overcome the insurmountable obstacles by using modern information technology such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Its accurate sensing and control can be used in the "black box" industry such as metallurgy, and provide the ideal solution for precise coordinated control of intelligent systems and equipment, as well as further intelligent optimization decisions.
Innovation leads to high quality transformation of products
The key to high-quality transformation of steel products is to innovate. Based on the in-depth study of the tetrahedral relationship of materials, i.e. "component, process, organization and performance", and taking "reduction, low cost, high performance" as the new concept of material research and development, the focus should be on the following aspects: First, upgrade and replace traditional materials, reduce alloy content, adopt advanced technology, reduce resources and energy consumption, and push conventional products to the middle and high-end, to create “the first”. Second, innovate and develop high-tech materials, achieve large-scale production, and play a leading role, to create "uniqueness". Third, overcome key high-end materials, and meet the needs of major projects such as national defense military. Fourth, attach importance to the expansion of composite materials, expand the application of steel materials in the field of composite materials, and improve materials usage efficiency. At the same time, we must develop high-quality production processes and supporting production equipment for high-quality products, and realize the optimization of the whole process of smelting, refining, continuous casting, rolling and heat treatment, and realize the mass production and industrial application of high-quality products. .
Innovation accelerates the supply service process
Improving the quality and level of service and building a service-oriented steel industry are the direction of our efforts. Driven by the market and user needs, we must grasp the essence and actively innovate to provide users with full-process technical services and overall solutions including material selection, product manufacturing, equipment commissioning and mass production applications. Baosteel's EVI cooperation mode, and the 2GPa hot-stamped steel developed by Northeastern University are worthy of reference in the industrialization of Benxi Steel.
China's economic development has entered a new era. The road to high-quality development of the steel industry has a long way to go. With innovation, we are striving to develop new technologies, new processes, new equipment and new products that are green, intelligent, high-quality and service-oriented, which is only way to build a strong steel country. It is hoped that the World Metals Guide will strengthen innovation technology reports in 2019, and play a leading role in the steel industry technology field, contributing to the high-quality development of the steel industry.