Ronsco Takes You To See The Development History Of Stainless Steel in China

Today, let's learn about the history of stainless steel development in China with RONSCO.

Compared with the development of advanced industries abroad, my country's stainless steel industry has been relatively inferior since modern times, and many machinery and equipment are dependent on imports. In the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in order to accelerate industrial development, we began to learn from the Soviet Union. After more than 60 years of development, China has now become one of the world’s largest stainless steel powers.

1952: Taiyuan Iron and Steel's electric furnace workshop was put into operation, and China's first furnace of stainless steel (brand 2Cr13) was made by oxidation method, ending the history of China's inability to produce stainless steel. Early production of Cr13 martensitic stainless steel, after mastering the production technology, mass production of 18-8 type Cr-Ni austenitic steel.

1956: Fusteel undertook the task of developing superalloys, and established a research laboratory to successfully trial-produce the first high-temperature alloy GH30 in a 3-ton electric arc furnace in the steelmaking workshop.

Since 1959: In order to save the precious element nickel, I began to imitate 1Cr17Mn6Ni5N and 1Cr18Mn8Ni5N with Mn and N instead of Ni. In 1958, Mo2%-3% was added to AISI204 steel, and 1Cr18Mn10Ni5Mo3N (204+Mo) was developed for the full cycle method. Urea production plant to replace 1Cr18Ni12Mo2Ti.

Since the 1960s, due to the development of domestic chemical, aerospace, aviation, atomic energy and other industries and the use of electric furnace oxygen steelmaking technology, a large number of new steel types, such as 17-4PH, 17-7PH, PH15-7Mo and other precipitation hardening stainless steels, contain C≤0.03% ultra-low carbon stainless steel 00Cr18Ni10, 00Cr18Ni14Mo2, 00Cr18Ni14Mo3 and Ni-free Cr-Mn-N stainless steel 1Cr18Mn14Mo2N (A4) have been successfully developed and put into production.

1961: my country's first stainless steel tube blank was produced in the No. 5 Shanghai Iron and Steel Plant, and my country's first stainless steel tube for aviation, which was completely domestically produced from raw materials to finished products, was successfully trial-produced.

Since the 1970s: In order to solve the chloride stress corrosion problem of 18-8 type Cr-Ni steel in the chemical and atomic energy industries, some α+γCr-Ni duplex stainless steels have been developed and officially produced and applied. The main steel grades There are 1Cr21Ni5Ti, 00Cr26Ni6Ti, 00Cr26Ni7Mo2Ti, 00Cr18Ni5Mo3Si2 (3RE60) and 00Cr18Ni6Mo3Si2Nb.

During the 1960s and 1970s, my country’s stainless steel production was mainly used in industry and national defense. A batch of stainless steel production equipment including argon-oxygen furnaces, high-power electric arc furnaces, oxygen top-blown converters, 1000 mm blooming mills, 2300 mm four-high reversible medium plate rolling mills, etc. Completed, the stainless steel production line was initially opened up. From 1952 to 1979, the stainless steel industry developed rapidly, and the domestic annual output of stainless steel was as high as 100,000 tons.

Since the 1980s: Two grades of urea-grade stainless steels 00Cr18Ni14Mo2 and 00Cr25Ni22Mo2N, which are ultra-low carbon and strictly control the phosphorus content and alpha phase content in the steel, have been developed. Their plates, tubes, bars, forgings and welding materials are all in large and medium-sized It has been applied in the urea industry with satisfactory results.

1985: In the past, my country's alloy steel continuous casting technology was still in a blank period. Taiyuan Iron and Steel's first stainless steel slab continuous casting succeeded in putting an end to the history of my country without stainless steel slabs.

As some special steel plants have successively built out-of-furnace refining equipment for smelting stainless steel, such as AOD (argon oxygen refining furnace), VOD (vacuum oxygen refining furnace), etc., and have been put into operation, my country's stainless steel smelting technology has reached a new level. It not only makes the production of low-carbon and ultra-low-carbon stainless steel a breeze, but also improves the inherent quality of stainless steel and reduces costs.

In the 1990s: Taigang's multiple cold-rolled plate production lines were put into operation one after another, and the 1594 mm hot tandem rolling project and the 1,000-ton fast forging machine were completed and put into operation. The first 20-high Sendzimir rolling mill appeared in China, and the successful load test indicated that the stainless steel equipment of Taiyuan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. has reached the international level.

The mid-to-late 1990s was a real golden period for the development of my country's stainless steel industry. The state increased the construction of state-owned enterprises, Nanbao and North Pacific, and increased the stainless steel production capacity of Baosteel and Taiyuan Iron and Steel to more than 400,000 tons per year. During this period, Shanghai Tenth Steel Plant and Allegheny Ludum Company of the United States established the first joint venture stainless steel precision belt production enterprise. The domestic stainless steel production exceeded 400,000 tons, and the performance consumption reached 1.5 million tons.

2000s: With the development of my country's economy and the improvement of living standards, the demand for stainless steel has grown rapidly. Import a large amount of laterite nickel ore that has been abandoned in the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries, and apply new pyrotechnic production technology to produce nickel-containing pig iron for use by stainless steel plants. China pioneered the use of low-grade laterite nickel ore to produce ferronickel. This process has developed rapidly and has brought new opportunities for the expansion of China's private stainless steel industry.

Subsequently, various large-scale stainless steel projects were completed and put into production or reached production, and domestic stainless steel has formed three industrial belts: Xinghua, Dongtai, Jiangyin, and Wuxi in southern Jiangsu; Wenzhou, Ningbo, Zhejiang, and Yuyao, Cixi, Fenghua and other places around Ningbo; Guangdong Foshan, Jieyang, Dongguan, Jiangmen and other cities. At this stage, the domestic stainless steel output exceeded 5.3 million tons, making it the world's largest stainless steel producer, which is close to the United States, Japan and other countries.

In the 2010s: TISCO was the only steel mill in the world to upgrade stainless steel to the level of 3 million tons in one factory, and its status as an industrial giant was finalized. Tsingshan Iron & Steel entered the nickel mine, and the joint venture company exploited about 47,000 hectares of laterite nickel mines located in Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Qingtuo Group's integrated process project was officially put into operation, combining raw materials and steelmaking. Under the situation of flat profits of traditional steel mills, integrated steel mills use cost to seize the market.

In addition to giants in the iron and steel industry, private stainless steel plants are also constantly increasing, and a number of powerful companies and industrial clusters with unique Chinese characteristics have emerged. Private steel mills have gradually expanded in scale, their production capacity has increased, and their status has continued to rise. The production capacity of private stainless steel plants accounted for more than 60% of the total production capacity.

To this day, the "one belt one road" and the upgrading of consumption structure have created good conditions for the development of high-end manufacturing and enhanced high-end equipment manufacturing capabilities, and also promoted the rapid development of my country's stainless steel industry. my country's stainless steel output has grown steadily from 2014 to 2020. As of 2020, the output will reach 30.14 million tons, an increase of 2.52% year-on-year.

About Ronsco

Hunan Allianz Metal products CO., LTD was established in1996，and RONSCO as our brand was built in 2014.

As a supplier with 25 years experience in stainless steel products, we have a professional service team to provide high standard of technical support, timely and qualified delivery, customs clearance assistance, and reliable after-sales services, etc..

After 25 years of development, Ronsco has now grown up to over 200 employees, half of whom have worked in stainless steel industry for more than 10 years. Besides, we possess 15 product experts and experienced technicians to ensure the product quality.  According to Ronsco anual report, our anual sales is about 20000 tons and our regular stocks are 3000 tons.

Benifit from strategic cooperation with world-famous manufacturers such as TISCO, and BAO STEEL, we have provided over 1,000 customers from more than 80 countries and earned a high reputation throughout the world.

Our advantages

1. 25 years experience in stainless steel supply.

2. Professional international trade team.

3. 9 years Alibaba golden supplier.

4. 3000 tons regular stocks.

5. One-Stop solution for material & fabrication