Academician Zhang Shourong's article thoroughly explains the past, present, and future of China's electrical steel industry

　　Zhang Shourong, Chen Zhuo

　　Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China's electrical steel industry has relied on the introduction of advanced technologies, forging a path of independent development characterized by digestion, absorption, mastery of technology, and capability building. These 40 years have also witnessed the rapid development and growth of China's electrical steel industry. Today, China's electrical steel output ranks first in the world. The purpose of reviewing the development history of China's electrical steel industry, summarizing its development experience, and analyzing its current problems is to facilitate better future development.

 

　　The 1.7-meter Rolling Mill and the Development of China's Electrical Steel Industry

　　At the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China's annual crude steel output was only 158,000 tons. Steel mills were technologically and equipment-wise backward, lacking complete smelting and cold rolling production technologies, and had no cold-rolled electrical steel products of their own, let alone an electrical steel industry that could meet the needs of national economic construction.

　　In August 1972, after Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai approved the National Development and Reform Commission's report on the introduction of a 1.7-meter rolling mill, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Baosteel's Qingshan base) began importing the 1.7-meter rolling mill system under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Metallurgy, and the Hubei Provincial Construction Command for the Wuhan Iron and Steel 1.7-meter Rolling Mill Project. The contract was finally signed in 1974, construction and production preparations began in 1975, and trial production began at the end of 1978.

　　Before 1978, we lacked cold-rolled silicon steel technology and could only produce hot-rolled silicon steel sheets, requiring large imports of cold-rolled silicon steel every year. After the trial production of the silicon steel project introduced by Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation in 1978, the output was small, with a total trial production of 132,991 tons by the end of 1981, including 21,846 tons of oriented silicon steel and 33,377 tons of non-oriented silicon steel. Until 1982, due to insufficient supporting facilities in the preceding processes and limitations in technical level, China still relied on imports for major supplies and spare parts for silicon steel raw materials, surface coatings, and rolls.

　　In 1981, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation's silicon steel sheet plant introduced technology and promoted the Japanese Total Quality Control (TQC) experience. In 1982, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation established a process flow from smelting to cold-rolled silicon steel based on Nippon Steel's silicon steel patented technology, laying the foundation for China's electrical steel production. In 1996, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation introduced technology for a second time, mainly introducing the production technology of general oriented electrical steel represented by Z8 and HIB steel represented by Z6H.

　　From 1978 to 2008, China's national economy developed rapidly. At that time, the output and varieties of domestic steel could not meet the growing demand, and millions of tons of steel, including high-end cold-rolled materials and silicon steel, needed to be imported annually. From 2001 to 2008, an average of approximately 1.1562 million tons of silicon steel was imported annually.

　　In my opinion, over the past 40 years, China's electrical steel industry has forged a path of self-development by digesting and absorbing advanced technologies to build production capacity. Innovation has been an attempt based on the introduction of advanced technologies.

 

　　The Transition from Introduction and Digestion to Independent Development

　　Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, by learning from advanced foreign technologies and digesting and mastering advanced foreign patented technologies, China's electrical steel industry has continued to develop and grow. Over the past 40 years, we have developed a series of products with independent intellectual property rights, improved production processes, and continuously improved equipment. Through long-term efforts, China's electrical steel production technology has developed rapidly, and electrical steel output ranks first in the world. The development stages of China's electrical steel industry can be roughly divided into the following periods:

　　First, the introduction and digestion period (1974-1986). In 1974, with the approval of the state, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation introduced the world's leading cold-rolled electrical steel production patented technology and complete sets of process equipment from Nippon Steel in Japan. The project had a designed annual production capacity of 70,000 tons, including 42,000 tons of non-oriented steel and 28,000 tons of oriented steel (including HIB steel). Construction of the project began on September 5, 1974, and trial production began in the second half of 1978.

　　Second, the introduction and absorption period (1987-1997). Over the years, based on the digestion and absorption of introduced technologies, and to meet the national need for high-magnetic induction oriented electrical steel, we have made breakthroughs through continuous management innovation and continuous quality improvement, bringing the economic and technical indicators and product quality of electrical steel to the level of similar foreign products. We completed the technological transformation of high-magnetic induction, low-iron loss oriented electrical steel products and achieved stable production of high-magnetic induction oriented electrical steel (HIB steel). Since 1986, we have developed domestically produced magnesium oxide for oriented silicon steel, domestically produced T4 and other non-oriented silicon steel coatings, domestically produced rolls, and other supporting products, as well as China's first tunnel-type high-temperature annealing furnace for oriented electrical steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel's second silicon steel production equipment. There are also some examples of independent development, including the world's first double-layer steel strip continuous annealing furnace for the purpose of intermediate complete decarburization annealing for oriented electrical steel and its related processes, and two high-temperature ring annealing furnaces, totaling 23 silicon steel production lines.

　　Third, the period of rapid development (1998-2015). During this period, China's electrical steel production technology developed rapidly, and electrical steel output ranked first in the world.

　　Since the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan, China's electrical steel industry is moving towards high-quality development. By the end of 2017, China had accumulated a total of 5,497 patents related to electrical steel, including 2,993 invention patents and 2,504 utility model patents. By the first half of 2018, there were about 21 non-oriented electrical steel production enterprises and about 18 oriented electrical steel production enterprises in China, with a production capacity of approximately 12.375 million tons, including 10.82 million tons of non-oriented electrical steel and 1.555 million tons of oriented electrical steel.

　　Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China's electrical steel industry has undergone earth-shaking changes. The output of oriented electrical steel has increased from 3 tons in 1978 to 1.1046 million tons in 2017, while the output of non-oriented electrical steel has increased from 991 tons in 1978 to 8.9944 million tons in 2017. In 1993, China began exporting non-oriented electrical steel, and in 2001, it began exporting oriented electrical steel. In 2017, China transformed from a net importer to a net exporter of electrical steel, breaking the long-term reliance on imports. By the end of August 2018, over 40 years, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation had produced a total of 23.86318 million tons of electrical steel, including 6.551679 million tons of oriented electrical steel and 17.311501 million tons of non-oriented electrical steel.

　　Currently, Chinese electrical steel is widely used in large transformers, large generators, motors, and household appliances, such as the Xiaolangdi Project, the Three Gorges Project, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project, the Beijing Electron Positron Collider Project, the Shenzhou VI and Shenzhou VII manned spacecraft projects, high-speed rail, robots, and new energy vehicles, as well as other national key projects and fields.

 

　　Outstanding Problems in China's Electrical Steel Industry

　　Currently, the outstanding problems in China's electrical steel industry include:

　　Firstly, there is overcapacity due to structural duplication. Judging from existing production capacity and output, China's electrical steel industry mainly suffers from structural overcapacity, with a 20%~30% surplus of low and medium-grade non-oriented electrical steel and a 20% surplus of general oriented electrical steel (CGO). Therefore, it is crucial to prevent new overcapacity in high-grade, high-efficiency non-oriented electrical steel. Currently, there are over 30 enterprises in China producing cold-rolled electrical steel, but 80% of them are newly emerged electrical steel producers in recent years. Many of these enterprises have introduced equipment, expanded production capacity, increased output, and gained profits, but their development has been somewhat blind. Many enterprises still maintain a relatively low level of quality and technological accumulation, and most of their products are low-grade products with low technology and quality; their production technologies are mostly based on tracking and imitation, without focusing on core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, let alone the development of new technologies and products. Some enterprises rely on cost competition, price competition, and sales competition to compete for the limited market, while quality improvement and technological progress are relegated to secondary positions. Some enterprises are still building electrical steel production lines. The state should formulate policies and regulations from the aspects of supply, energy saving, environmental protection, and innovation to control the release or expansion of production capacity, accelerate the elimination of low-end and backward products, and at the same time, national regulatory departments should strengthen the supervision or control of the approval of electrical steel projects.

　　Secondly, there is a small number of top-end products, and the quality stability is insufficient. Judging from the output of high-end electrical steel in China in 2017, the proportion of top-end products is not high, and user needs cannot be fully met; the production control level needs to be improved, and the original grade qualification rate needs to be improved to reduce the number of unqualified or defective products, and improve the management level and comprehensive product quality; facing the new needs of downstream industries such as large-scale power generation equipment, energy-saving transformers, high-efficiency energy-saving motors, transportation drive motors, new energy electric vehicle motors, drones, and high-end home appliances, the preparation technologies of low-noise transformer-oriented electrical steel, heat-resistant oriented electrical steel for three-dimensional wound cores, thin-gauge non-oriented electrical steel, high-end high-efficiency motor non-oriented electrical steel, medium-frequency high-efficiency motor non-oriented electrical steel, and high-strength non-oriented electrical steel should be developed.

　　Thirdly, the awareness of implementing national product standards is weak. On May 1, 2017, the state officially implemented the new national standards (GB/T2521.1-2016) "Fully Processed Cold-Rolled Electrical Steel Part 1: Grain Non-Oriented Steel Strip (Sheet)" and (GB/T2521.2-2016) "Fully Processed Cold-Rolled Electrical Steel Part 2: Grain Oriented Steel Strip (Sheet)". The implementation of the new national standards not only eliminates the backward product grades in the original standards and raises the technical threshold of magnetic performance levels and indicators, but also aligns the new standards with international standards and has Chinese characteristics, forming two separate product standards. The revision and implementation of the new standards will further standardize enterprise behavior, achieve the organic combination and application of national standards and enterprise standards, and the implementation of the new standards will help improve the market competition and supply environment. We should take advantage of the implementation of the new national standards for electrical steel to vigorously promote the new national standards, so that users can better understand and recognize the importance of the new national standards, and under the premise of meeting the new national standards, sign technical agreements with higher standards with users to meet user needs and promote the healthy development of the electrical steel industry and downstream industries. At the same time, we call for strengthening the authority and market enforcement of national standards to achieve the uniformity of the market platform and the fairness of competition.

　　In addition, attention should be paid to maintaining market order and regulating the market behavior of enterprises. Newly put into production enterprises should enter the market after product qualification, further regulate the silicon steel raw material market and strengthen the technological progress of private enterprises' electrical steel.

 

　　How can China's electrical steel industry achieve high-quality development?

　　Practice has proved that Wuhan Iron and Steel's decision to introduce patented technology for cold-rolled electrical steel was correct, and China's electrical steel industry has thus embarked on a path of self-development through digestion, absorption, mastery of technology, and capacity building. However, in the future, the possibility of China's electrical steel industry introducing advanced technologies from abroad is unlikely, and technological development will still rely on independent development and original innovation. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the electrical steel industry should follow the national "One Belt, One Road" policy and the overall planning of grid upgrading and transformation and the development of central and western regions, and in accordance with the requirements of energy saving and emission reduction in relevant industries and the continuous growth of market demand for higher-end products, follow a sustainable development path.

 

　　The author suggests that the following work should be done:

　　Firstly, increase investment in science and technology, and focus on supporting the research work on key common technologies of electrical steel. For example, texture in electrical steel is a key factor in improving magnetic properties. However, the concept of texture is relatively abstract and difficult to understand and grasp. Moreover, texture control in the processing of electrical steel involves a lot of metallurgical theory, some of which are still world-class problems. Therefore, this problem has strong academic and technical characteristics, is one of the key scientific problems in the development of electrical steel technology, and is also an academic issue that is widely concerned in the development of electrical steel in the world today. The challenge of this problem lies in the fact that the application potential of conventional texture control technologies and principles seems to have been exhausted, and new technologies and related principles need to be developed to enable breakthrough progress in electrical steel.

　　Secondly, give play to the advantages of industry associations and universities, carry out high-level international exchanges and cooperation, and strengthen the cultivation of scientific and technological talents in electrical steel.

　　Thirdly, focusing on reducing the cost of electrical steel production, conduct in-depth research on the CSP (thin slab continuous casting and rolling) process for producing oriented electrical steel, achieve the industrialization of short-process technology for electrical steel, and create a new process with Chinese intellectual property rights. China is the country with the most dense thin slab continuous casting and rolling production lines in the world, and its production cost is low. Existing industrial research shows that this process can be used to produce qualified oriented electrical steel and achieve large-scale industrial production. If further research is carried out, it is expected that its overall production cost will be close to that of high-grade non-oriented electrical steel, forming a Chinese innovative technology and achieving significant energy saving.

　　Fourthly, focusing on the national requirements for energy saving and emission reduction, focus on developing ultra-low iron loss oriented electrical steel preparation technology and ultra-high magnetic induction oriented electrical steel preparation technology to meet the needs of national grid development; focusing on the sustainable development requirements of the electrical steel industry, strengthen the enforcement of national standards, raise the threshold of national standards for electrical steel, cancel low-end product grades that do not meet market demand, and eliminate backward production capacity of electrical steel enterprises; focus on developing thin-gauge non-oriented electrical steel preparation technology, high-end high-efficiency motor electrical steel preparation technology, medium-frequency high-efficiency motor electrical steel preparation technology, and high-strength electrical steel preparation technology to meet the needs of steel for motors above 1 million kilowatts, ultra-supercritical motors, pumped storage power generation, high-efficiency energy-saving motors, transportation drive motors, and high-end home appliances; promote and carry out the preparation technology of harmless electrical steel throughout its life cycle, low-energy-consumption electrical steel throughout its life cycle, and low-noise electrical steel, truly meeting the requirements of China's rapid economic development.

　　In the future, China's electrical steel industry should be oriented towards the world, comprehensively realizing Chinese production, development, and technology transfer to achieve the goal of serving the global market; be at the forefront of the world in terms of production capacity, quantity, and quality; keep pace with the world in terms of production technology, product R&D, and technological reserves; and make greater contributions in terms of intellectual property rights, patented technologies, and the number of invention patents.