Recently, achievements have been made in the technological support project of the 3,500mm medium and heavy plate production line undertaken by the technical research team at the Shougang Research Institute of Technology, and high strength weatherproof structural steel, high grade pipeline steel, low yield-strength ratio bridge steel, and high toughness marine steel have been successfully trial-produced, which has broken through the product outline. Large-scale production of 6-10mm thin gauge products has been achieved, and trial-production and commercial supply of 100mm extra-thick plates have been completed, a breakthrough in the capacity of production line design and expansion of the the limit gauges, and key breakthroughs in reserve technology such as VD new process design have also occured.

With Wang Yanfeng, chief engineer of the Research Laboratory of Wide and Heavy Plates of the Research Institute of Technology, the research team who tackle key problems with medium and heavy plate products have continuously made new breakthroughs with down-to-earth, hardworking, and advanced exploration. Starting from finding out the boundaries of equipment capability and exploring the limits of safeguard conditions, they set goals and formulated process test plans. Based on market demand and product characteristics, they reasonably designed transfer tasks such as variety certification and trial production. It took only half a year to complete the certification of the five national classification societies of ship plates and CE certification of the European standard products, which provided a strong guarantee for the realization of commercial supply. In terms of product gauges, the characteristics and advantages of the production line in the thin gauge products were highlighted, and the stable production of the 6mm steel plate with the ultimate thin gauge was implemented. The team overcame the design limit of the production line, increased the extra-thick gauge from 60mm to 100mm, and effectively improved the production line order connection ability. They didn’t stop the transfer of existing products. They actively developed new characteristic products in line with market demand, focusing on low temperature aging drilling platform steel, new standard bridge steel, thick gauge submarine pipeline steel and high strength weathering steel, and completed trial production, upgraded the variety structure of the 3,500 mm production line, and provided a new way to achieve production efficiency. Since the production line reached target output in May 2018, manufacturing costs have been decreasing month by month, and profits have been steadily accruing.

To solve the problems of heating, rolling, cooling and flatness control for limit gauge plates, which restricted the development of the 3500mm production line, and ensure smooth and rapid production on the production line, Chief Engineer Li Shaopo led the key technical personnel of Jingtang Company to define the key technical objectives, optimize solutions, and work on every detail in the research process. After more than half a year’s repeated process tests by the research team, the temperature accuracy of the heating furnace of 3,500mm production line has been increased by more than 44℃, the maximum rolling reduction has reached more than 30mm, and the cooling termination temperature has reached the control target of less than 550℃, which strongly supports the development of high-end products. The shape of limit gauge plates has greatly improved, and 6-10mm thin gauge plate has been produced in batches.

VD refining equipment has made Jingtang Company the only steel plant in China to use this equipment for vacuum refining. It is also the first production line matching MCCR short processes at home and abroad. There is no experience for reference in process design and control, and now there is a question of how to match the MCCR short process perfectly. The refining team headed by Dr. Liu Jingang has the courage to take on the responsibility and transform pressure into a driving force for progress. Through data research, field visits, and exchanges with several domestic iron and steel enterprises, many process routes and hot test schemes have been designed.